Articles by Girish Anand

April 28, 2010

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Bill Introduced to Eliminate/Criminalize Worker Misclassification

Even as the Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) begin scouring workplace records for the improper classification of employees as independent contractors, Congress is weighing in with patches to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to put some bite behind the bark. Senator Sherrod Brown, D.-Ohio, has introduced the Employee Misclassification Protection Act (EMPA), which a...

April 27, 2010

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Wal-Mart Hit With Huge Class-Action Gender Bias Suit

Supreme Court Wal-Mart

No stranger to labor disputes or the courtroom, Wal-Mart has now been hit with a class-action gender bias lawsuit affecting as many as 1.5 million female employees. In a close ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco voted 6 to 5 to certify class-action status. Wal-Mart immediately said it would appeal to the Supreme Court. The lawsuit was originally filed in June 2001, and i...

April 23, 2010

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OSHA Increasing Penalties and Aiming Higher

David Michaels OSHA Severe Violator Enforcement Program

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), while legally bound to a fine structure with limits, is seeking to raise its average fine from the $1,000 range to the $3,000 to $4,000 range while awaiting higher fine approval from Congress. OSHA Director David Michaels announced on April 22 what the agency is calling its Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), which replaces the c...

April 20, 2010

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OSHA to Emphasize Enforcement of Worker Training

OSHA worker training

Effective April 28--Workers Memorial Day--the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will step up enforcement of worker training requirements, especially for non-English speakers. "OSHA will also assure that its Compliance Officers check and verify not only that the training has been provided, but that it was provided in a format that the workers being trained can understand,...

April 16, 2010

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California Adopts Federal Standard on Unpaid Interns

FLSA unpaid interns

The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) had long made life complicated for employers in the state who wanted to bring on board unpaid interns, adding an extra five criteria to those spelled out in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). But all that has changed now that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has launched a crackdown on using unpaid interns as unpaid employees. Th...

April 9, 2010

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OSHA Unveils Goals of New Strategic Plan

David Michaels Hilda Solis OSHA

The Department of Labor (DOL) has released its strategic plan for 2010-2016 with the overall objective being "good jobs for everyone," in the words of Secretary Hilda Solis. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently held a Web chat to discuss its part in the DOL strategic plan, during which it characterized its overall plan in these words: “OSHA is focus...

April 8, 2010

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The “Billion-Year Contract” Case Explained

Church of Scientology FLSA L. Ron Hubbard Sea Org

A federal judge has dismissed claims against the Church of Scientology by a (former?) member who alleges she was forced to work 100-hour weeks for no pay under a billion-year contract for the religion's elite Sea Organization, according to a report in The Baltimore Sun. U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer issued a written order saying the plaintiff, Claire Headley, was not covered by the Fair Labo...

April 6, 2010

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Got Interns? Then Maybe You'll Get a Knock on the Door

The Department of Labor (DOL) and its Wage and Hour Division (WHD) are not only targeting independent contractor misclassification, but they're also now coming after the misclassification--and misuse--of interns. M. Patricia Smith, who went after New York employers for the misclassification of interns when she was that state's labor secretary, is now heading up the campaign for the federal DOL ...

April 2, 2010

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No April Fool's Joke: New Sheriff Cracks Down

Department of Labor DOL FLSA Hilda Solis

Taking the stage in Chicago at what was once Jane Addams' Hull House, where FDR Labor Secretary Frances Perkins got started, Obama Labor Secretary Hilda Solis launched a nationwide public awareness program called "We Can Help" on April 1. "I have a message for those employers who break this nation's labor laws and prey on vulnerable workers: It ends today," she said in her s...

April 1, 2010

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Some Firms Playing April Fool's on Cal/OSHA Poster

Cal/OSHA

For the past few days, a few labor law poster companies (other than Personnel Concepts) have been issuing press releases and other types of communication stating that the Cal/OSHA poster "Safety and Health Protection on the Job" has changed and posting the updated version is mandatory. (Therefore, buy it from us, in other words.) However, the poster in question, the one dated November...

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About author

Girish Anand

Recent Articles

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

U.S. Department of Labor Officially Restores Prior Overtime Exemption Rules

On May 14th, 2026, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced it has officially rescinded the 2024 overtime exemption rules. Specifically, the WHD published a technical amendment to restore previous 2019 regulations that dictated overtime exemptions for...

NLRB General Counsel Takes Action to Tackle Current Case Backlog

On May 6th, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and NLRB General Counsel Crystal Stowe Carey announced the bulk transfer of thousands of labor practice cases. Specifically, this action fulfills an initiative signed by the NLRB General Counsel earlier this year. Overall, the initiative...

Privacy Agency Invites Comments from Businesses on the CCPA’s Usage of Personal Data

Recently, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued a call for comments on the current state of personal data collection under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Specifically, the invitation to deliver remarks was issued on April 20th, 2026. The information provided by the...

DOL Proposes New Joint Employer Rule To Unify Standards Under Federal Labor Laws

In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule to establish a single, clear standard for determining when joint-employer status applies under three major federal laws: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Migrant and Seasonal...

DOL Updates Enforcement Approach for Employee Benefit Plans: What Employers Should Know

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a significant change in its enforcement of employee benefit plan rules. The DOL will now focus more closely on serious violations that harm workers and retirees, meaning compliant employers may face less scrutiny under the updated approach.

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Articles by Girish Anand