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| The Supreme Court signaled that employees who claim job discrimination should not suffer because of mistakes made by the federal agency charged with investigating their allegations. The justices came down hard on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a case that was argued about whether an age discrimination lawsuit against FedEx Corp. can proceed. |
| (Source: The Washington Post (free reg. req'd), 2007-11-06) |
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| The co-owners of a Florida-based janitorial service that authorities say provided cleaning crews staffed with illegal immigrants to a northern Michigan resort have pleaded guilty to charges in the case. The investigation into Rosenbaum-Cunningham International Inc., or RCI, of Palm Beach led to the nationwide arrest in February of more than 200 illegal immigrants, mostly Mexican nationals. |
| (Source: St. Petersburg Times, 2007-11-05) |
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| More than 40 years after federal law made it illegal, 30 years after courts widely began recognizing it as a form of discrimination and at least 20 years after many companies inaugurated programs to prevent it, sexual harassment remains a stubborn blemish on the American workplace that not only can be ugly but very expensive, as New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas and his employer, Madison Square Garden, learned. Although the case resurrected the debate about sexual harassment, the fact is case filings alleging abuse of that sort are actually on the decline. |
| (Source: Centre Daily Times, 2007-11-03) |
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| The House voted to significantly expand a four-decades-old program giving financial and retraining help to people who lose their jobs because of foreign competition. Democrats have made clear that more assistance for displaced workers must precede action on several bilateral free trade agreements promoted by the Bush administration, but the White House also warns that the president may veto the House bill, charging that it goes beyond the intentions of the current law. |
| (Source: BusinessWeek, 2007-10-31) |
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| When the AARP announced its seventh annual "Best Employers for Workers over 50" awards in September, the corporations at the top of the list didn't get there by offering the traditional fringe benefit trio of health, life and disability insurance. Instead, the AARP recognized companies such as SC Johnson, the Principal Financial Group, Michelin North America and Mercy Health System for providing "forward-looking" benefits packages to workers over 50 that include alternative work schedules, lifelong learning and career training opportunities and a program that allows today's graying workforce to care for their own aging families. |
| (Source: The (Del.) News Journal, 2007-11-05) |
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| Members of Generation Y -- brimming with youthful enthusiasm and self-esteem -- are causing employers, including law firms, to rethink expectations, work ethic and schedules. These workers, born after 1979, are more likely to seek balance in life, according to experts, and if they're not happy with their jobs, they're more likely to move on to greener pastures than past generations. |
| (Source: The Cincinnati Enquirer, 2007-10-31) |
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| Employers are not doing enough to combat stress and other mental health issues in the workplace, according to a recent survey conducted by Meritain Health and the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health. Of 411 full-time employees with medical benefits, 52 percent said their employers do not address the mental health of employees, while 40 percent said they were unaware of what mental health benefits -- if any -- were offered. |
| (Source: Inc., 2007-10-30) |
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| The students came from as far away as Poland and Russia for the opportunity to work at hotels and restaurants around Lake George, but their employers violated numerous state labor laws, according to an investigation by the state Labor Department. The Labor Department investigators found that the offenses, which varied by location, included: cheating workers out of proper wages, violating child labor laws, refusing to pay required overtime, and deducting rent from wages. |
| (Source: Newsday, 2007-11-06) |
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| These days, single people in search of romance or a life-time partner have a much better chance finding that special person at work rather than at bars or online, say authors Stephanie Losee and Helaine Olen in their book "Office Mate: The Employee Handbook for Finding -- and Managing -- Romance on the Job." According to the book, fewer than five percent of human resource professionals in the United States felt that office romance should be prohibited and, in 2006, only nine percent of American firms had blanket bans on relationships. |
| (Source: Reuters, 2007-11-02) |
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Susannah Pieper
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On April 25, 2007 the House of Representatives passed H.R. 493, known as the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The legislation seeks to outlaw various types of genetic discrimination, including discrimination in health insurance and employment.
If an employer does not conduct genetic testing on its employees, it might wonder why it even needs to know about GINA. However, GINA’s definition of “genetic discrimination” is so broad that, if passed, all employers will be forced to reckon with its provisions.
Read the entire article about GINA.
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