Any immigration reform will include E-Verify requirement:  Mandating E-Verify may come as a part of the White House's plan to overhaul the immigration system, McClatchy reported. The administration declined to address the E-Verify proposal, but a senior official told McClatchy that "the priority was on stopping illegal entry into the country and protecting Americans."  The Obama administration stopped short of requiring that employers use E-Verify to authorize workers and chose instead to encourage them to do so. But employers may no longer have a choice if the current White House decides to include E-Verify in forthcoming immigration legislation. Until then, employers must weigh the advantages and disadvantages of using E-Verify.  Leigh Ganchan of Ogletree Deakins previously stated that employers should be aware that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has a monitoring and compliance division for E-Verify. "[DHS] has officers who watch the data that's entered behind the scenes. If they see a pattern of what they consider to be errors, they contact the employer," she said. These officers generally try to educate the employer about what the division discovered. Although no fees are levied on employers that make errors in E-Verify filings, that may change if the process is mandated, Ganchan noted.  Source:  HR Dive 5/14/19

Pay Equity is a work in progress:  The "2019 Pay Equity Practices Survey of C-suite and Reward Leaders," conducted by WorldatWork and Korn Ferry, reveals that while a slight majority of organizations are addressing pay equity in their workplaces, one third are still only considering doing the necessary work, and 7% say pay equity is not on their company's radar.  The study suggests that even when pay equity gaps are uncovered, large organizations are taking a measured path to address them. Roughly three-fourths of organizations have or are conducting remediation or are working to resolve causes of pay inequities, but there is still room for improvement:  23% are considering remediation strategies but haven't yet initiated them; and 28% are considering working to identify/resolve root causes of pay inequities, but haven't started yet.   While nearly 31% of surveyed organizations agreed that the primary objectives of pay equity programs are to build and maintain a culture of organizational trust, many companies are missing the opportunity to build trust through transparency about their pay equity initiatives.  A majority of those companies engaged in pay equity management activities are sharing their intent and findings with senior leaders (90%) and people managers (65%), but they are keeping largely mum to the workforce at large.  27% report any broad-based communications to employees, and 52% report communicating findings of the analysis only to employees affected by the adjustment.  Source:  CCH 5/14/19

LGBTQ bill passes the U.S. House of Representatives:  Last Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that would protect against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace, housing, jury selection, and public accommodations.  Today, there are 28 states without any such explicit protections, and where workplace discrimination is legal (be it in the form of an offensive microaggression or employment termination). But this landmark bill marks a monumental step towards making all workplaces nationwide safer spaces for LGBTQ+ employees.  Today, while roughly 80% of non-LGBTQ+ people say LGBTQ+ people shouldn’t hide who they are at work, it is estimated that 46% of LGBTQ+ Americans are in the closet at work. According to Out & Equal, 52.8% of LGBTQ+ employees report that discrimination has negatively affected their work environment, and nearly 1 in 10 have left a job because they felt the environment was unwelcoming. For transgender employees, the numbers are even more extreme: more than three-quarters of trans employees have reported taking steps to avoid mistreatment in the workplace. Unemployment rates are higher for this group than for heterosexuals, and the unemployment rate for transgender individuals is even worse, at three times the national average.  It is questionable whether the senate will pick up the bill or if it brings it to the floor for a vote.  Source:  Yahoo News 5/17/19

Up one, down one:  Janet Dhillon, the new EEOC Chair, was sworn in last Wednesday.   EEOC now has a quorum.  However, the pay collection of two years of data will continue.  On the minus side, Scott Mugno, a former FedEx Ground safety executive, grew tired of waiting to be confirmed since his October 2017 nomination to be assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.   The acting head of the agency will continue in that role.  Source:  Law360 5/15/19

Paid Family Leave solution?  Should Congress consider amending the FMLA by expanding coverage to additional family members, domestic violence victims, and having the full 12 weeks paid by amending the tax code to provide 2X tax credit to eligible employers of salaried workers?  The law should pre-empt all jurisdictions that have paid leave.  Economists should weigh in on the costs of the proposal with the projected benefits for employees who experience the sandwich generation.

Disability video all should see:  Are you an ALLY?  A video from Mount Sinai Hospital in Ontario on the value of disabled employees within the organization.

Is the future office no office? Workers are increasingly asking for flexibility and autonomy, and smart companies are responding by allowing them to work remotely a few days a week, said Andrew Challenger, vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., an outplacement and career-transitions company.  “It does feel like that we’re at a tipping point. With technology tools, companies are forced to reckon with in-office policies,” Mr. Challenger said.  Gallup said in a 2016 report that 43% of U.S. employees worked remotely at least some of the time, up from 39% in 2012.  To the extreme is GitLab.  It has no headquarters, and everyone works remotely, even the CEO.  The software-development startup, which has more than 600 employees in 54 countries, plans to raise its headcount to about 1,000 by year-end. Its far-flung workers rely on internal tools and cloud-based services to collaborate, communicate, and contribute to projects.  However, not all agree.  Many corporate leaders remain on the fence over such flexible arrangements. In 2017, International Business Machines Corp., a pioneer in remote work, began to bring some employees back into offices, saying the move would improve collaboration and speed up projects.  Source:  Wall Street Journal 5/15/19