The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has launched a new website – Disability.gov – offering information for people with disabilities, their family members, veterans, caregivers, employers, and others. The new site replaces DisabilityInfo.gov and features information about disability-related programs and services as well as social media tools to serve the more than 50 million Americans with disabilities.

The website’s social media tools include a Twitter feed, RSS feeds, a blog, and social bookmarking, according to the DOL’s announcement. Additional social media tools are to be added in the months ahead.

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Democrats have reportedly agreed to drop the card-check provision of the controversial Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The card-check provision would have made it much easier for employees to form labor unions by allowing a majority of employees to unionize by signing card-check petitions. Under this provision, employers would no longer have been able to dispute the card-check process through a secret-ballot election if a majority of employees signed the petitions.

With the elimination of the card-check provision, several Senate and labor officials have noted that the revised bill could require shorter unionization campaigns and faster elections. For example, revisions to the bill could include a requirement that union elections be held within five or 10 days of 30 percent of employees signing cards indicating that they want a union. Legislators are supposedly also considering other options, including measures that would give unions more access to employers’ property and prohibit employers from requiring employees to attend “antiunion meetings.”

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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held a public hearing on July 15 to review recent developments under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The panel discussed the effects of widespread layoffs, threats to employee benefits, and controversial recent court decisions on older workers. The panelists testified in detail about the damaging effect of age stereotyping and recent judicial decisions that have curtailed older workers’ ability to challenge age discrimination, citing Kentucky Retirement Systems v. EEOC and Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., as examples.

The experts also proposed – and urged – a variety of potential enforcement and policy solutions to counteract adverse judicial decisions, such as: read more…

There has been a flurry of health care reform activity in Washington over the last couple of days. House Democrats unveiled their version of health care reform July 14, which includes a “pay-or-play requirement” directed at employers. On July 15, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved health care reform legislation that would also require most employers to either offer insurance to employees or pay an annual fee.

House Health Care Reform Bill
The House bill would require employers that don’t provide health insurance coverage to their employees to pay a penalty or fee, and the amount of the fee or penalty would be based on the employer’s payroll. Companies with annual payrolls of $250,000 to $300,000 would have to pay a fee equal to 2% of their payroll. Companies with an annual payroll of $300,000 to $350,000 would have to pay 4%, and companies with a payroll of $350,000 to $400,000 would pay 6%. The highest fee would fall to employers with an annual payroll over $400,000 — they would have to pay 8% of their wages as a penalty for not providing insurance. However, employers with an annual payroll below $250,000 wouldn’t have to pay a penalty or fee.

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Late Friday, July 9, the White House announced it had sent the nominations of Craig Becker, Mark Gaston Pearce, and Brian Hayes to be members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to the U.S. Senate. If confirmed, the NLRB would have a full, five-member board for the first time since December 2007. The current members are Chairman Wilma B. Liebman and Peter C. Schaumber.

Earlier, on April 24, President Obama had announced his intention to nominate labor law attorneys Becker and Pearce for the two vacant Democratic seats on the NLRB. Hayes’ nomination to fill the vacant Republican seat was announced on Friday shortly before the nominations were sent to the Senate. By tradition, three of the five Board seats are filled by individuals of the same political party as the President in office.

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By Hector A. Chichoni

On Wednesday, July 8, 2009, the U.S. Senate approved several amendments dealing with immigration enforcement and benefits that were not included in the 2010 homeland security appropriations bill (H.R. 2892) passed previously by the House of Representatives.

An amendment introduced by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) dealing with E-Verify was passed by a voice vote after a motion by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to table it was rejected 44 to 53.

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On July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage will increase to $7.25 per hour. The increase is the result of a May 2007 amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which boosted the minimum wage in three steps. The first two steps — to $5.85 and then a year later to $6.55 — were implemented on July 24, 2007, and July 24, 2008, respectively.

Some states and municipalities have minimum wage requirements that are higher than the federal rate so employers should check their location’s requirements before making any changes to their payroll systems.

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Beginning Sept. 8, 2009, federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to use the E-Verify system to ensure their employees are legally authorized to work in the United States.The requirement is designed to stop federal contractors and subcontractors from hiring illegal immigrants.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced this week that the Obama administration will require employers that are awarded federal contracts to use E-Verify. The requirement for federal contractors to use E-Verify was originally set to go into place in January 2009, but was postponed so that the new administration could review the new rule.

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is calling its decision to audit hiring records at 652 businesses nationwide a “bold, new audit initiative” that utilizes inspections as one of the most powerful tools the federal government has to enforce employment and immigration laws.

ICE issued Notices of Inspection to the 652 employers on July 1 to alert them that their hiring records will be inspected to determine whether they are complying with employment eligibility verification laws and regulations, according to a statement from the agency. The mass of notices is more than ICE issued throughout all of last fiscal year.

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