Small to medium size employers recognizing healthcare is important recruitment/retention tool: Since 2008, the percentage of employers with 1,000 or more employees offering healthcare coverage has been consistently near or above 99%. It reached 99.8% in 2016. But smaller firms have shown a steady, though not precipitous, decline in offer rates. For the smallest employers studied, those with fewer than 10 employees, the offer rate declined from 22.7% in 2015 to 21.7% in 2016. But over the last year, perhaps with the strengthening economy and lower unemployment rates, there is evidence of what may be a rebound in employment-based coverage offer rates among firms with 10-999 employees. More specifically, from 2015-2016: for employers with 10–24 employees, those offering health benefits increased from 48.9% to 49.4%; for employers with 25–99 employees, those offering health benefits increased from 73.5% to 74.6%; and for employers with 100 to 999 employees, those offering health benefits increased from 95.1% to 96.3%. For these larger employers, this trend actually began a year earlier, when the offer rate increased from 92.5% in 2014 to 95.1% in 2015. Source: EBRI August 2017
Should men and women get the same amount of parental leave? The EEOC thinks so. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Estée Lauder Companies Inc., accusing the beauty giant of violating federal law when it awarded male employees fewer weeks of parental leave than female workers receive. The EEOC claims the policy violated the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and its suit seeks back pay, damages, and injunctive relief for the stock worker and other male employees affected by the discrepancy. According to a 2016 report from the Society for Human Resource Management, 26% of U.S. employers offer paid maternity leave beyond what is covered by state law or short-term disability plans, while 21% offer paid paternity leave. However, women typically receive far more time off than men: an average of 41 days for mothers and 22 days for fathers. The imbalance, according to the report, reinforces traditional gender roles since it “may force mothers to stay at home and discourage fathers from taking time off to care for a newborn.” Source: The Wall Street Journal 8/31/17
US workers happier on the job, but expecting less: Americans are happier at work, but they might just be settling for less. For the first time since 2005, more than half of U.S. workers say they’re satisfied with their jobs, according to the Conference Board. Employment is up, wages are finally rising, and layoffs are near record lows, resulting in a more optimistic, content workforce. Yet the data also suggest U.S. workers have changing views of what makes a job good. A decade of bruising job cuts, minimal raises, and lean staffing has led them to lower their expectations, economists and labor-market experts say. The average employee today shoulders more risk for her retirement and health care than in past generations and enjoys less job security as the idea of a job for life has vanished. Almost 51% of employees say they are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their jobs, according to the Conference Board, which surveyed about 1,600 workers across the US last November. Workers gave top ranking to their colleagues, commutes, and job tasks, but were frustrated with companies’ promotion policies, bonus plans, training opportunities, and performance-review processes. Source: The Wall Street Journal 9/1/17
OFCCP and EEOC merger likely dead: Under President Trump’s proposed budget, the OFCCP and the EEOC were to merge. A directive was sent to the agencies to discuss merger logistics. The merger was to be completed by 2019 fiscal year. The proposed merger of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the DOL's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs includes “several challenging transition issues,” OFCCP Acting Director Thomas M. Dowd acknowledged in an Aug. 24 letter sent to the Institute for Workplace Equality. The proposal has been opposed by the business community, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Institute for Workplace Equality, as well as civil rights groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It also has divided lawmakers. Management-side stakeholders have raised concerns about transferring the power to withhold government contracts from a Cabinet-level agency to an independent commission, as well as potentially exposing contractors to even more damages liability under a combined agency. Congress will have last word. Source: BNA 8/29/17
New general counsel for NLRB appointed: Peter Robb, a Vermont management-side labor lawyer, is expected to be named general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), pending a background check. Robb currently represents businesses in labor disputes at Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC and, with the board slated to have a GOP majority for the first time in a decade, is a key nomination for business advocates who are anxious to see the board reconsider various Obama-era worker-friendly decisions. Source: Barnes & Thornburg 9/1/17
You want to hire this HR director? Sheet metal fabrication company DLS Precision Fab experienced a growth spurt and hired a new human resources director to handle the increase. However, the HR director neglected his duties, allegedly “stuffing the government’s correspondence in a drawer and never responding” after failing to properly complete and file the required I-9 forms. In an action brought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an administrative law judge ordered the employer to pay $305,050 in penalties for 503 violations (one was thrown out as untimely). DLS appealed to the Ninth Circuit, arguing that issues of fact remained on its good faith defense. Unwilling to disregard the company’s responsibility to hire and supervise its own employees, the court said the HR director acted as the employer’s agent and his failures could properly be imputed to DLS. The fine was high, and DLS argued that it didn’t have the ability to pay it. It had also filed for bankruptcy. “Ability to pay is not, under the statute, one of the factors that must be considered in setting the amount of the penalty,” the court said. “Because it was within the ALJ’s power to decline to consider this factor at all, DLS’s ability to pay was not a material issue of fact that would preclude summary determination of the penalty amount.” You can guess where the HR director works now. Source: Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP 8/31/17; DLS Precision Fab LLC v. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, No. 14-71980 (9th Circuit Court of Appeals, 8/7/17)