Articles by Girish Anand

September 23, 2009

37 view(s)

Can't Get Rid of the Employee? Just Eliminate the Department

I'm not sure if this is what's happening or not, but it looks suspiciously so: The Department of Labor (DOL) is eliminating its Employment Standards Administration (ESA) effective Nov. 8. After that, the four agencies/departments now administered by the ESA will report directly to the DOL secretary. Which looks to me like a ploy to eliminate the middle man, an assistant secretary of Labor,...

September 21, 2009

71 view(s)

Public Support for Unions Slips to Historic Low

EFCA NLRA

Good news comes from Gallup--and the good ol' American public itself--for those business owners and managers who fear that a tidal wave of unionization will increase their costs and rigidize (is that a word? how about comatose-ize?) their workforces. Public support for unions has plunged to the lowest depths ever--just 48 percent of Americans approve of unions, according to a recent Gallup head...

September 18, 2009

66 view(s)

No Inflation, So No Minimum Wage Hikes in 10 States

Add new tag minimum wage

Beleaguered employers who struggle to make ends meet in tough times can take a breather this year as ten states that tie their minimum wage into the inflation rate will be holding rates steady this year. Reason: There is no inflation; rather there's deflation. States use different statistical measures and time-frames (July to July, September to September) to gauge the inflation rate, but e...

September 17, 2009

43 view(s)

Blogger Tweets Her Way Out of Unwanted Surgery

Amid all the pop nonsense and rumor mongering and character assassinating going on at Twitter, one lucky blogger found the service useful in helping her avoid what she believed to be unnecessary surgery. Sarah Cortes, a technology consultant and blogger, found herself in a rural Pennsylvania hospital with a spine fracture. She claims the hospital did everything in its power to persuade her to g...

September 15, 2009

62 view(s)

World's Millionaire Ranks Thinned by Almost 20 Percent

millionaires Super Rich

The Grim Recession Reaper is out there weeding out the super rich by the bushel-full as the ranks of millionaires worldwide have fallen by 18 percent--22 percent in North America--while their assets plunged in one year by a whopping $13 trillion. Poor folk, they used to control about $105 trillion in wealth, but they were down to a paltry $92 trillion in 2008. The Boston Consulting Group, the f...

September 14, 2009

46 view(s)

U.S. Falls to Second Spot in World Economic Competitiveness

world business competitiveness

Switzerland has jumped ahead of the United States in terms of global business competitiveness, according to the annual survey of the World Economic Forum. The People's Republic of China has also moved into the top 30 for the first time. Though Switzerland and the U.S. both rank high on innovation and business climate, the U.S. is dropping like a lead balloon in the macroeconomic category, from ...

September 11, 2009

40 view(s)

Democrats Had Votes to Pass EFCA in July, But...

They couldn't muster the 60th vote, says Senator Tom Harkin, D.-Iowa, one of the sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which detractors have dubbed the Employee Forced Choice Act. The 60th vote needed to choke off a filibuster over the measure belonged to Ted Kennedy, but when Harkin phoned Kennedy's doctor to get the okay for him to spend three days in the capital, the good doc...

September 10, 2009

39 view(s)

A First? Labor Contract Dissolved in Municipal Bankruptcy

IBEW Vallejo

The City of Vallejo, Calif., has been in bankruptcy court for quite some time now, running up a legal tab of about $5 million, but it's made some progress in getting most of its labor contracts voluntarily renegotiated to lower its obligations. Not so the electrical workers' union, however. The group never agreed to a new contract, so U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michael McManus simply diss...

September 9, 2009

72 view(s)

EEOC Writes Lilly Ledbetter Law into Compliance Manual

EEOC Lilly Ledbetter Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Supreme Court

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has codified the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into its Compliance Manual, incorporating the law's standard that the statute of limitation on discriminatory pay practices resets each time a paycheck is issued, regardless of when the initial discriminatory pay decision was made. The 2009 Fair Pay Act, to recount, overturned the 2007 Supreme Court...

September 5, 2009

62 view(s)

American Apparel Gets Audited, Will Lay Off 1500 Illegal Workers

American Apparel E-Verify I-9

Though the Obama administration has dropped the "no match" rule that created a safe harbor for employers who lay off workers whose Social Security numbers don't match their names, the layoff route is still the route of choice for employers who get caught with illegals on their workforce. Such is the case with American Apparel in Los Angeles. A recent audit found 1,600 employees who were illega...

204 of 221

Options

About author

Girish Anand

Recent Articles

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

Homeland Security Finalizes and Proposes New Rules on Employment Authorization

On October 14th, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published two rules in the Federal Register, affecting employment authorization for foreign workers: The two rules address automatic extensions of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) and the weight of prior determinations on ...

NLRB Reissues Standard on Abusive Conduct Protections

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently restored an agency standard addressing abusive conduct during protected activities. The Board specifically clarified whether employees lose the National Labor Relations Act’s (NLRA) if they engage in abusive conduct while exercising their NLRA...

OSHA Releases New Guidance for Workplace Opioid Emergencies

On September 24th, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL’s) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a fact sheet on workplace opioid emergencies. The new resource can help employers and workers rapidly respond to opioid-related overdose emergencies in the workplace.

Recent EEOC Cases Highlight Workplace Discrimination Risks for Employers

Over the past week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced the outcomes of four court cases involving workplace harassment and discrimination claims. Specifically, these cases involved religious discrimination, disability discrimination, and pregnancy discrimination.

Ten DOL Agencies Release Latest Round of Workplace Opinion Letters and Other Resources

On September 8th, 2026, multiple U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) agencies released workplace opinion letters on critical topics to provide guidance and transparency for employees, job creators, and retirees. Specifically, the workplace opinion letters cover topics ranging from the coverage of wage...

View All Articles

Articles by Girish Anand