New OSHA-Proposed Rule Aims to Reduce Employee Deaths and Injuries from Falls
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recently announced revisions to its walking-working surfaces and personal protective equipment standards to reduce employees’ workplace falls that could result in injuries and deaths. OSHA claims the new rule will be more logical and make compliance more flexible. It also aims to “increases consistency between construction, maritime and general industry standards, and eliminates duplication.” Since the specifics of this rule (essentially replacing 1990 proposed rules to revise subparts D and I) are quite complex, employers that...
Read MoreU.S. Labor Department to Require Employer Compliance Plans for Wage, Job Safety and Equal Employment Laws
The federal labor laws compliance issue is sparking controversy, now that the U. S. Department of Labor has announced that it will require businesses to develop, implement and manage compliance plans. The federal government’s point of view has merit, since it knows, for example, that it is not collecting a significant amount of Social Security taxes because too many employers are mistakenly or purposely classifying some workers as independent contractors. Because the Labor Department’s few thousand inspectors can’t review nine million workplaces, part of the philosophy behind the required...
Read MoreU.S. Supreme Court Hears Case Involving Employees’ Expectation of Privacy Using Personal Communication Devices During Work Hours
Although the U.S. Supreme Court rules on specific, individual cases argued before it, those rulings can have far-reaching implications for employers and employees in a similar circumstance. That is exactly what could happen in a recent case about an Orlando, California police officer who is charging that his privacy rights were violated when the police chief read thousands of very personal messages the officer texted to his girlfriend. In addition, the police officer had paid for the extra minutes he used. Two years previously, a lower court ruled that the police chief had no legitimate...
Read MoreNew Federal HIRE Act May Not Increase Employment, Says Business Owners
When the federal Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE) became law, its purpose was to provide tax incentives to employers to hire more of the high number of unemployed. Employers (including nonprofit organizations) will be exempt from paying their share of Social Security taxes on wages paid from March 19 through Dec. 31 for new employees hired after Feb. 3, 2010. An important fine-print point is that, to qualify, those new hires must have worked 40 hours or less during the 60 days prior to their hire date. Employers also receive a $1,000 credit on their business income tax...
Read MoreNew Unemployment Benefits Report Sparks Controversy
According to a global bank’s study, the added unemployment benefits that the U.S. Congress has approved are responsible for 1.5 percent of the high unemployment rate. A lobbyist for the National Employment Law Project has, however, called the report’s conclusions “hooey.” Congressional members from both sides of the aisle voted for the increased benefits, since the unemployed must immediately spend all of that money on necessities, which in turn stimulates the economy. The report (and opponents of added unemployment benefits) claim that when unemployed workers receive extended benefits, they...
Read More2009 Labor Report Reveals Employee Compensation Costs
A 23-page U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report found that state and local governments spent an average of $39.83 per hour for total employee compensation during September 2009. Twenty-six dollars twenty-three cents of that total was wages and salaries. The remaining $13.60 went toward benefits. Private-industry workers’ costs averaged only $27.49 per hour. Wages and salaries were $19.45 per hour, benefits $8.05 per hour. The 23-page Bureau of Labor Statistics report is available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf.
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