Over the past two decades, workplace violence has unfortunately become increasingly prevalent, particularly in the health care and social service industries. As OSHA itself acknowledges, approximately 75 percent of workplace assaults reported annually occur in health care and social service settings and workers in health care settings are four times more likely to be victimized
Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the official publication of the proposed changes to the federal overtime rules. This announcement is significant because it triggers the start of the 60-day period for public comments in favor of and opposed to the rule changes. The comment period will remain open until May 21, after
On April 12, 2018, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor reinstituted its practice of issuing opinion letters, providing the Agency’s interpretation of discrete issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Obama administration had suspended the longstanding practice nearly a decade ago. Two of the opinion letters issued on April
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court on Monday held in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, et al., that current and former service advisors in a car dealership were not entitled to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Court ruled that the service advisors were exempt from overtime under 29 U.S.C. §2113(b)(10)(A),
The Employee Benefits Security Administration of the Department of Labor has just released for public consideration, and published for comment, a significant new interpretation of the term “employer” under ERISA. Under the proposal, small businesses and sole proprietors would have more freedom to band together to provide health coverage for employees in what are
Are the changes to the overtime rules going to take effect or not? Ever since a federal court issued an injunction in late 2016 stopping major changes to the federal overtime rules, employers have anxiously been waiting for an answer to that question. Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) turned the tables, and
On March 27, 2017, President Donald Trump signed a resolution that permanently blocked an executive order previously issued by President Obama, which had required federal contractors to disclose labor law violations.
The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order signed by President Obama in 2014 had been called the “blacklisting” order by those in the
The Office of Management and Budget released President Trump’s “America First” budget blueprint for discretionary spending earlier this morning. Overall, it increases spending on defense, veterans’ health, immigration enforcement and combatting opioid abuse while decreasing civilian discretionary spending. Hardest hit are programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Legal Services
On December 19, the United States Department of Labor issued comprehensive new guidance making it clear that it intends to continue to aggressively pursue employers who misclassify employees as independent contractors. The transmittal message for the new guidance, entitled “Misclassification Affects Everyone,” states the DOL’s position that “The misclassification of employees as independent contractors is