Archive for the ‘Federal Labor Law’ Category

Well, not quite. They can’t legally be published online or in a print publication, but they can be shared with too many groups without our consent. Most people have never heard of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, but that law is the source of what privacy rights we have and [...]

The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, now known as COBRA, contains a clause allowing employees to keep their company’s health insurance for up to 18 months after they leave their jobs, provided they pay the premiums. With people being laid off right and left and the ranks of the unemployed rapidly swelling, many [...]

A week ago I wrote that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was being put on fast track for passage by the 111th Congress. With a snap of their fingers (actually, pushing their “yes” buttons), members of Congress did just that and sent Lilly over to the Senate, where Harry Reid and other leaders are [...]

Tom Mundy earns a princely income in California by going around to various business establishments with an eye to finding violations of the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act), usually related to accessibility issues. In one instance, the condiments counter at a fast food joint was one inch too high to be properly accessible. So what [...]

The WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) specifies that 60 days’ notice must be given in firms with more than 100 full-time employees when large-scale layoffs are going to take place. The act kicks in when 50 employees at one location are laid off within a 30-day period, or when 33 percent of [...]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D.-Calif., indicated today that two labor bills are being put on the fast track for passage. Both deal with ensuring women are paid the same as men for doing the same jobs, all other factors being equal. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is named for a litigant who lost her [...]

This morning I was poring over a press release from a law firm advising employers to use caution and follow labor law mandates in laying people off in hard times. The release began by lamenting a 40-percent rise in business bankruptcies in the 12-month period ending in June 2008, which saw a total of 33,822 [...]

Here’s something I just learned. I generally don’t pay much attention to unemployment insurance law since I don’t qualify for it, but some people have been pretty smart at gaming the system. To wit: Under federal unemployment rules that are being changed Jan. 6, 2009, a worker who drew wages from jobs in two or [...]

Two George Mason University researchers looking into the cost of government regulations on American business conclude that the total burden amounts to a 1.6 percent excise tax on the “typical manufacturer.” Another way of framing the cost is in terms of dollars, which they say amounts to $1,700 per employee. The researchers, W. Mark Crain [...]

Over at the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog, Jon Hyman has an interesting discussion on the proposal to add ugly to the protected classes under labor law and employment laws. To wit, Hyman writes: “Under the current state of the law, it is illegal to discharge, to refuse to hire, or otherwise to discriminate with respect [...]