Articles by WorkWise Compliance team

April 16, 2015

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MSHA Data for 2014 Show Increased Mining Deaths | WWC

The Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has released preliminary data for calendar year 2014 and updated its Mine Safety and Health at a Glance web page. The charts include information on inspections, violations, number of mines and miners, and fatality and injury rates for coal, metal and nonmetal, and all mining. The data show that, while the 2014 overall opera...

April 15, 2015

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DOL Seeks Commentary on Proposed Fiduciary Rule | WWC

The Department of Labor (DOL) has released a proposed rule aimed at protecting 401(k) and IRA investors by mitigating the effect of conflicts of interest in the retirement investment marketplace. A White House Council of Economic Advisers analysis found that these conflicts of interest result in annual losses of about 1 percentage point for affected investors — or about $17 billion per year in ...

April 14, 2015

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OSHA Seeks Input on Tower Worker Safety | WWC

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is asking the public for information about worker safety hazards in communication tower construction and maintenance activities. Public input will assist the agency in determining what measures are needed to prevent worker injuries and fatalities. In the past 30 years, the increased demand for wireless and broadcast communications has sp...

April 13, 2015

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Angry Judge Digs in Against Obama Immigration Plan | WWC

Judge Andrew Hanen, who issued an injunction that stopped the Obama administration's plan for its version of immigration reform, has refused to lift the ban, saying the federal government, under President Obama's orders, "has abdicated enforcement" of the nation's immigration laws. The U.S. district judge cited two factors this past weekend in refusing to halt the injunction (and thus letting ...

April 13, 2015

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DOL to Enforce FMLA Spouse Rule Nationwide | WWC

Before the new definition of spouse for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) purposes could take effect, a federal judge in Texas issued an injunction against its enforcement, but the Department of Labor has now announced that it will honor that injunction only in the four states whose lawsuit led to the order. Those four states are Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Nebraska. The new definition o...

April 11, 2015

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Justice Declines to Lift Embargo on New Definition of Spouse for FMLA

After Justice Reed O'Connor placed a temporary injunction on the new definition of spouse for purposes of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, the Department of Justice (DOJ) quickly moved to ask for the block to be lifted. On Friday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office initiated the lawsuit resulting in Judge O'Connor's injunction, announced that the federal judge in Wichita...

April 10, 2015

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EEOOC Finds Treatment of Transgender Employee to Be Sex Discrimination

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) this week ruled that an army facility's decision to force a transgender civilian employee to use a unisex bathroom, and not a female one, represented sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The five-member board also found that her supervisor's use of male pronouns when addressing Tamara Lusardi, the employee, “compounded t...

April 8, 2015

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LGBT Workplace Discrimination Rule Takes Effect for Federal Contractors

President Obama's executive order prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity by businesses with federal contracts goes into effect today, effectively extending protection to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In marking the occasion, Labor Secretary Tom Perez noted on his blog that the implementation of the order "will mean a more dynamic ...

April 7, 2015

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Cities, Counties File Legal Brief to Unblock Obama's Stalled Immigration Plan

President Obama's plan to provide legal status and even work permits for up to 5 million undocumented immigrants has been blocked by a federal judge in Texas since February, but yesterday a consortium of 73 cities and counties in 27 states filed a legal brief asking an appeals court to lift the sanction. The signature gathering was organized by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and New York Mayo...

April 6, 2015

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NLRB Publishes Bound Decision Volumes | WWC

Since the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the Decisions and Orders of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have been published in bound volumes. Since the NLRB’s headquarters in Washington, DC, will be moving to a smaller location this summer, the agency will retain only a limited number of complete sets of the Board Decisions and Orders. Pursuant to Subchapter B of...

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Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.

Latest EEOC Enforcement Data Shows Increased Pre-Litigation Activity

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EEOC Pens Letter to Companies Regarding Title VII Compliance and DEI Initiatives

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NLRB Officially Reinstates Previous 2020 Joint Employer Standard

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OSHA Releases New Job Safety and Health Workplace Poster

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released a new workplace job safety and health notice. Specifically, the OSHA Cares Job Safety and Health poster informs workers about their rights under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act. Per OSHA’s poster page, employers do...

Agency Releases Newly Proposed Independent Contractor Status Rule; Seeks Employer Comments

On February 26th, 2026, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposed rule designed to help determine independent contractor status. Overall, the new independent contractor rule would help employers better understand when a worker is an employee. Conversely, the rule will allow employers to...

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Articles by WorkWise Compliance team