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| A survey found that 56 percent of Americans say it is irresponsible to be friends with a boss and 62 percent say it is wrong to be friends with an employee. But 76 percent believe it is acceptable to be friends with a workplace peer, according to the survey of 1,000 people by Liberty Mutual's Responsibility Project. |
| (Source: Reuters, 2010-02-25) |
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| The controversy over racial bias, testing and firefighters that blew up at both the Supreme Court and the Senate last year returns, this time as the justices decide whether blacks who were not hired in Chicago because of their test scores are due damages for years of lost wages. The potentially $100 million civil rights case comes before a high court that has already shown its skepticism toward such claims. |
| (Source: Los Angeles Times (free reg. req'd), 2010-02-22) |
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| In the recent economic recession, an estimated 15 percent of U.S. employers suspended or reduced matching contributions to employee 401(k) plans as part of efforts to reduce expenses. Now large employers are starting to reinstate matches, although sometimes at lower levels. |
| (Source: The Tennessean, 2010-02-20) |
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| Regardless of what happens in Washington, experts say people insured through an employer should be braced to bear more costs and more intrusion into their personal choices. An estimated 70 percent of major U.S. employers now offer incentives, ranging from smoking-cessation classes to offering gift cards or cash in exchange for completing a detailed health risk assessment. |
| (Source: Tampa Tribune, 2010-03-01) |
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| The Department of Homeland Security's controversial and much-touted E-Verify program might be failing to detect one out of two illegal workers whose employment authorizations are screened, outside consultants have told the agency. An evaluation of E-Verify carried out for DHS by research group Westat found the program couldn't confirm whether information workers were presenting was their own, and, as a result, "many unauthorized workers obtain employment by committing identity fraud that cannot be detected by E-Verify," Westat told the department. |
| (Source: The Wall Street Journal, 2010-02-25) |
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| U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued sweeping new guidance that limits the ability of many staffing companies to hire foreign professional workers. As the economy improves, many companies will find it increasingly difficult to hire and retain skilled foreign workers. |
| (Source: law.com, 2010-02-23) |
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| Many employers sponsor H-1B holders to have them fill temporary posts, not to become full-time residents of the U.S., according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit think tank. The differences in the ways companies use H-1B visas can be stark, according to the study, which was authored by Ron Hira, an associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology and longtime critic of the H-1B visa program. |
| (Source: Computerworld, 2010-02-22) |
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| Slowly and tentatively, some companies are rescinding pay cuts made during the recession. The tentative approach is part of the reason that wage growth is muted even as the economy starts to rebound. |
| (Source: The Wall Street Journal, 2010-03-01) |
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| Bonus season is well under way, and the public outrage that last year boiled over into protests at execs' homes, criticism from the President, and demand for reform from an angry public seems to be at a low simmer now. While there has been some criticism of the large bonuses taken home by top execs at companies that took TARP money, and many companies have changed their approach to compensation, there hasn't been the sweeping regulation and widespread reform that was demanded and promised, at least implicitly. |
| (Source: BusinessWeek, 2010-02-26) |
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| The Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging racial discrimination by Abercrombie & Fitch after a manager fired a Muslim employee who refused to remove her hijab, or head scarf. |
| (Source: law.com, 2010-02-26) |
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| The U.S. Department of Labor is alleging that a Newark, N.J., software company, Peri Software Solutions Inc., underpaid its tech workers on H-1B visas and owes some $1.45 million in back wages to 163 people. The Labor Department is also seeking to hit Peri with a $439,000 civil penalty and a two-year debarment from the H-1B program. |
| (Source: Computerworld, 2010-02-24) |
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| Jenifer Brown |
Lindsay Ramsey |
Democrat John Kerry and Republican Richard Lugar introduced legislation to the U.S. Senate on February 24, 2010, that proposes a new category of employment-based visas for foreign entrepreneurs who create startup companies and jobs in the U.S. The goal for the legislation is to establish an employment-based immigrant visa for foreign entrepreneurs who have received significant capital from investors to establish a business in the U.S.
Read the entire article about green cards for foreign entrepreneurs. |
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On April 1, 2010, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting H-1B temporary worker petitions for the 2011 Fiscal Year. If approved, H-1B status would become effective October 1, 2010.
In most years, USCIS received more than double the annual number of applications made available for H-1B workers on the first date of eligible filing and implemented a lottery system to randomly select cases for processing. A similar result is anticipated next year.
Read the entire article on H-1B visas. |
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Ice Miller's Labor and Employment Practice is proud to partner with Lorman Education Services to present a seminar on "Administering the Family and Medical Leave Act Under the Current Regulations" on Friday, March 5. The seminar will take place at the Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre Hotel. This event will be a great opportunity to network with other professionals in your area.
You can receive $50 off the registration fee by using the priority code 15000 and discount code Z7745121. Click here to view the event details and register, or call (866) 352-9539. |
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Medicare Secondary Payer Mandatory Reporting Provisions Section 111 MMSEA
New User Guide, Alerts and Dates,
Oh My!
In a previous alert, we reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) delayed the date that self-insured employers and insurance companies must begin reporting information related to claims with Medicare beneficiaries until the first quarter of 2011. This postponement of the Section 111 reporting requirements has prompted a couple more changes that are important to many of you.
Read the full article about these reporting changes.
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