Articles by Girish Anand

April 1, 2010

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Health Reform Mandates Chain Restaurant Calorie Counts

The National Restaurant Association saw it as a "devil we know" over a bunch of pending state regulations that were "devils we don't know," so Obamacare--the recent health care reform package--includes a provision for chain restaurants to post calorie counts and nutritional information for their menu items. Now, as with other federal laws and regulations, states generally fe...

March 31, 2010

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New York Clarifies State WARN Act Provisions, Definitions

New York Department of Labor New York WARN Act NYDOL NYWARN

The New York Department of Labor (NYDOL) has issued proposed new regulations, subject to a 45-day public commentary period, to clarify provisions of its statewide Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. The New York WARN Act, which was revised at the beginning of 2009, sets different thresholds and notification periods that are more stringent than federal requir...

March 26, 2010

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Denver Restaurants Targeted by DOL for FLSA Compliance

DOL FLSA WHD

The Department of Labor (DOL) is launching a Wage and Hour (WHD) investigation of Denver area restaurants for compliance with overtime pay, working hours, and child labor, according to the local DOL office. Chad Frasier, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Denver, says that the restaurant industry has been targeted because of past performance by similar businesses. "The ind...

March 25, 2010

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DOL Targets New York Health Care Industry for Misclassification Audits

FLSA misclassification overtime

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), operating on information from its Albany field office, has targeted the health care industry in New York state for investigation into the misclassification of workers and subsequent under-payment of overtime wages. Underlying this effort is a finding by the department's Albany district office that, during the past five years, almost two out of every three hea...

March 22, 2010

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PAWA Set to Increase Civil and Criminal Penalties for OSHA Violations

OSHA PAWA

The Protecting America's Workers Act (PAWA), which is simultaneously wending its way through both chambers of Congress, would put new fangs into enforcement of the laws and regulations overseen by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Now with health insurance legislation largely behind it, Congress is expected to move on several labor-related fronts, including PAWA, the Emp...

March 19, 2010

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It Lives! The Paycheck Fairness Act Comes Roaring Back

EEOC Equal Pay Act Paycheck Fairness Act

The Paycheck Fairness Act now under consideration by the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee was introduced by then-Senator Hillary Clinton in January 2009. The House of Representatives approved its version shortly thereafter, and now, after a long hibernation, it has roared back to life in the Senate more than a year later. For employers, it probably...

March 16, 2010

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DOL to Add Still More Inspectors in 2011

DOL IRS misclassification of employees WHD

Testifying before a House subcommittee, Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Hilda Solis recently detailed plans for fiscal 2011 to use $1.7 billion out of a budget of $116.5 billion, along with 10,957 employees out of 17,800 total, for what she called "worker protection activities." Plans also call for adding another 90 inspectors to the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) after the addition...

March 8, 2010

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ADAAA Cited in Detroit Lawsuit Settlement

ADA ADAAA reasonable accommodations

The City of Detroit recently settled an Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit filed by an employee who unsuccessfully sought a reasonable accommodation because a coworker's perfume made it difficult for her to breathe. Now, one might conclude that a municipality may have more inclination to settle than fight since it's using OPM (other people's money), whereas a private employ...

March 4, 2010

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OSHA Issues Letters to Firms with Highest Injury, Illness Rates

DART injury and illness report OSHA SST

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has dispatched about 15,000 letters to companies to notify them that their rates of illness and injury are higher than average. These so-called DART (Days Away, Restricted and Transfer) reports generally are followed up by OSHA inspections, if the past be any guide. OSHA has made no official announcement about the computer-generated lette...

March 3, 2010

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More Clarity on HITECH Provisions Promised Soon

HIPAA HITECH

Though HITECH (the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health act) took full effect this past Feb. 17, provisions regarding business associates were still vague, as we noted at the time. Now, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the law's oversight agency, is promising to issue proposed rules soon, which typically would be fo...

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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