EverythingPeople gives valuable insight into the developments both inside and outside the HR position.
5 December 2023
While we were all enjoying the Friday after Thanksgiving the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued a set of rules that could benefit a small (probably) number of employees by making them eligible to participate in an employer’s 401K defined contribution plan.
28 November 2023
Shaun Fain, UAW President, is not only taking a victory lap around the recent contract settlements with the Detroit Three, but he has also repeatedly vowed to organize the other non-union auto manufacturers and their suppliers so that in 2028 he will be bargaining against the Big Five or Six.
21 November 2023
What the National Labor Relations Board seeks to give unions, the Courts taketh away. Since the beginning of the Biden era, the NLRB has issued ruling after ruling challenging employers’ policies as anti-union. Many policies that have been acceptable for years are now being cast as anti-union and in turn, an unfair labor practice.
14 November 2023
ASE has advised on this in the past but with the current state of social media use and the growing rancor and divisiveness in society we remind employers again: employers do have rights when it comes to its employees’ off-work verbal and social media communications.
7 November 2023
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is looking at an employer’s delivery driver expense plan. Under federal law a business can reimburse delivery drivers through a reasonable approximation of their expenses rather than using a mileage expense method, as long as the total reimbursement, along with any wages does not reduce the driver’s take home pay below minimum wage.
31 October 2023
Last Wednesday Ford Motor Company reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers. Though it remains to be seen what else was agreed to, the tentative deal increases wages 25% over the life of the contract. Top wage jobs will see cumulative wages rise 30% to over $40/hr. Starting wages will increase 68% to over $28/hr. Stellantis agreed to a similar deal last Saturday that mirrors the Ford deal.
24 October 2023
Employers are advised to review certain employee handbook policies to ensure they will not be found to violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). As we have reported, the pro-labor National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is issuing new Board decisions that are decidedly pro-labor and challenge some long standing employer policies as a violation of a worker’s right to engage in protected concerted activity.
17 October 2023
As the UAW strike enters its 5th week, Shawn Fain, UAW President, continues to call on more plants to strike and continues to increase pressure on the Detroit Three. Last week, Fain called on Ford’s Kentucky plant’s 8700 union workers to walk off the job having received Ford’s latest proposal at a meeting that Fain took just ten minutes to leave saying, “You just lost Kentucky Truck Plant.”
10 October 2023
3 October 2023
26 September 2023
Businesses that may face their own fallout from the UAW strike against the Detroit Three should be cognizant of some resources and obligations. During ASE’s bi-weekly Conversations with Mike & Tony webinar, we asked the participants if they foresaw a direct impact from the strike in the next 30 days. 26% said they did, and the biggest percentage of those indicated the impact would be employee layoffs.
19 September 2023
12 September 2023
As ASE has reported, the pro-union National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is dramatically changing labor law tilting against union-free employers. The ongoing changes to labor rules and practice by the NLRB will make it much easier for unions to organize and also much easier for employers to break the law.
5 September 2023
As reported last week, on August 30, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced it is proposing a revised rule that will increase its Salary Level Test by revising part of the Exemption Tests in its regulations. To be classified as an exempt employee under the DOL regulations, the job must meet three tests as outlined by the FLSA regulations:
29 August 2023
Last week the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its long-anticipated decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific LLC and also issued a new rule changing union election procedures.
22 August 2023
With less than a month to go before the Big Three and the UAW labor contracts expire (September 14), the UAW is ratcheting up its negotiation rhetoric and posturing.
15 August 2023
Early last week the Department of Labor issued notice of proposed regulations that provide employers guidance on how to comply with the newly enacted Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The PWFA took effect June 27, 2023, and applies to employers with 15 or more employees.
9 August 2023
Not unexpectedly, last week the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) changed its work rule test. The NLRB’s work rule test assesses whether particular employer policies (rules) illegally restrict workers’ rights. The Biden labor Board, now comprised of his appointees, and its General Counsel stated that since this Administration came into office, it would be reviewing many Trump-era labor rules and this rule in particular.
8 August 2023
1 August 2023
A leadership learning solutions organization out of San Francisco published results of a nationwide study (2,066 American adults) examining how first-time managers’ performance impacts their teams. Oji Life Lab engaged Harris Research to survey the impact first-time supervisors have on their subordinate employees and the impact that being untrained has on the first-time supervisors themselves.
25 July 2023
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced that an updated Form I-9 will be available August 1, 2023. This will replace its Form I-9 that has been in use since October 2019. Since November of 1986, employers hiring any person to perform labor or services in the United States must have a completed I-9 form on file for that employee.
18 July 2023
With the enactment of both the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) effective June 27, 2023, and the Nursing Mothers Act also known as the PUMP Act, covered employers should consider adding new policies to communicate compliance and inform employees what they are providing them as a result of those laws.
11 July 2023
Recently an article on process mapping, also known as workflow mapping, was brought to my attention and it reminded me that although process mapping is typically used for product manufacturing, engineering, or other organizational process improvement this organizational improvement tool can also improve human resource functions.
30 June 2023
Among the bevy of U.S. Supreme Court opinions handed down last week, the Court ruled on what the undue hardship standard should mean within the context of accommodation for religious practice and belief. HR will have to re-evaluate how they handle requests for religious accommodation.
27 June 2023