Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

 

One of the more thought provoking articles I read this week dealt with recent criticism over the alleged lack of action by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in regard to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.  I will let readers scroll through the below article and reach their own conclusion but the opinion piece is worth reading regardless of your position on the matter.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Critics Take Aim At OSHA For Handling of Coronavirus in the Workplace

This week, Dave Jamieson at The Huffington Post wrote an article on which he posited that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has failed to take adequate steps to protect workers around the country while the coronavirus pandemic plays out.  As readers might be aware, OSHA is charged with assuring safe workplaces and enforcing rules and regulations to achieve that purpose.  However, as Jamieson writes, OSHA has failed to do so for a number of reasons:  1) fines against employers that have allegedly failed to protect their workers from the coronavirus in the workplace have been minimal; 2) there has been only 1 inspection for every 48 complaints made against employers; and 3) OSHA has failed to issue any temporary emergency standards as to the coronavirus.  Will anything change?  It is impossible to say, but there are an increasing number of calls for the agency to act.


Effective October 1st, Hobby Lobby Raises Hourly Pay Rate to $17/Hour

On Monday, Hobby Lobby announced that ahead of the holiday shopping season, it would raise the hourly pay rate for its employees to $17/hour effective October 1st.  This comes on the heels of another big box retailer, Best Buy, hiking its hourly wage rate to $15/hour earlier this year.  Now excuse me while I go put in my application at Hobby Lobby.


New York Federal Judge Strikes Down Significant Portions of Labor Department’s Joint Employer Rule

Last week, U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods issued a ruling in which he struck down a significant portion of the Labor Department’s joint employer rule on the grounds that it violated the Administrative Procedure Act.  The new joint employer rule focuses only on the putative joint employer’s right to control the employee (compared to the prior rule which considered that employee’s economic dependence upon the putative joint employer.)  In the ruling, Judge Woods vacated the portion of the rule applying to “vertical” relationships but let the portion of the rule applying to “horizontal” relationships (situations in which a worker is employed by two “sufficiently associated” businesses) remain in place.  While the 62 page ruling is quite a read, for those looking for an in depth analysis of the matter, it is worth paging through when you have time.


EEOC: Work From Home Accommodation Request From Disabled Employee is NOT Automatic

Earlier this month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) released guidance in which it noted that with the coronavirus subsiding (in some parts of the country), a work from home accommodation request from a disabled employee is not automatic.  Of note, the EEOC did stipulate that whether a work from home accommodation request is reasonable remains a fact specific and case by case determination.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum,...
Post a Comment
Read more

What I've Been Reading This Week

Recently, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Commissioner, Chai Feldblum, had her re-nomination on the brink, after Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee took steps to block it .  Readers might have heard that late last week, Commissioner Feldblum's re-nomination quietly slipped away and she tweeted out a thank you to supporters and friends, acknowledging that her time at the EEOC was over.  While there has not been much in the way of a further update in regard to that ongoing saga, we wait to see how things will play out at the EEOC, now that it has lost a quorum until additional Commissioners are confirmed by the Senate. For the time being, there are other developments for readers to review this week.  In particular, I call attention to the article on managing a wage & hour audit by the Department of Labor as well as steps an employer can take to better ensure compliance with the ADA. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Senator Bernie Sanders To Introduce Bill Requiring Large Corporations To Pay For Federal Assistance Programs

Next week, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is set to introduce legislation which would require large employers such as Walmart, Amazon, and McDonald's to fully cover the cost of food stamps, public housing, Medicaid, and other federal assistance programs that their employees receive.  Senator Sanders has stated that the goal is to force these large employers to pay their employees a living wage and cut back on the nearly $150 billion in taxpayer dollars that go toward funding these federal programs every year. As for the specifics, a 100% tax on government benefits received would be imposed on government benefits received by workers at companies with 500 or more employees.  For instance, if a Walmart employee received $500 in food stamps, Walmart would be taxed $500. To call this proposed legislation groundbreaking would be an understatement.  I would expect that Senator Sanders, an Independent that caucuses with Democrats, is going to face an uphill battle gett...
Post a Comment
Read more