Total Articles: 15
Agencies Issue Information on Regulatory Priorities for 2012
Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have issued their regulatory plans and agendas for 2012. Issued on January 20, 2012, the agencies’ semi-annual regulatory unified agendas outline the regulatory actions that the agencies will likely propose or issue in final form during the upcoming fiscal year. The unified agendas are published in the spring and fall of each year. Although published in January, the latest documents represent the fall 2011 agendas. The fall agendas include the agencies’ regulatory plans, which set forth their statements of regulatory priorities and additional information about the most significant rule-making activities planned for the coming year. The latest agenda indicates that employers can expect aggressive regulatory activity impacting multiple aspects of the workplace in the year ahead.
Rule Would Require USDA Contractors to Attest to Labor Law Compliance
The Department of Agriculture’s Office of Procurement and Property Management has issued a direct final rule that would require its contractors to attest that they and their subcontractors, to the best of their knowledge, are in compliance with all applicable labor laws, and report any violations to their contracting officer.
Worker Classification - Prepare for the Game or Get Leveled on the Playing Field (pdf)
Employers are in a high stakes game. In late September, as part of its continuing effort to "level the playing field" on classification of US workers, the Department of Labor (DOL) signed additional heavy hitters to its Misclassification Initiative roster. DOL first signed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) designed to "improve departmental efforts to end the business practice of misclassifying employees in order to avoid providing employment protections." They also signed labor commissioners and other agency leaders in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Utah, and Washington. DOL expects to also sign Hawaii, Illinois, Montana, and New York's attorney general onto its Initiative team. The scope and implications of the Misclassification Initiative - first launched in 2010 - and the MOU are outlined in "Leveling the Playing Field for Employers: Government Initiatives Against Misclassification", which can be found here. In brief, this MOU is an initiative designed to improve agency coordination and effectiveness and which is grounded in arguably unbounded cooperation and information sharing between federal and state agencies and the plaintiff's bar.
DOL, NLRB Funding Bill Would Curtail Many Regulatory Efforts
Lawmakers are taking another approach in an attempt to curb recent agency decisions and rulemaking considered unduly burdensome for businesses. On Thursday, Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-MT) introduced (H.R. 3070), a bill that would appropriate funds for the Departments of Labor (DOL), National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and other related agencies for fiscal year 2012. This nearly 150-page bill contains many provisions that not only reduce the amount these agencies would receive in comparison to prior years, but also would place a number of conditions on the receipt of such funds. In essence, the legislation would prevent the agencies from using appropriations funds to pursue and/or enforce many controversial items on their regulatory agendas.
Pet Food Company Uses YouTube and Facebook to Trash OSHA—Smart Move?
Here’s one way for businesses to use social media—to trash a government agency! In my opinion, it’s generally not a good idea to purposefully pick fights with government agencies. Very rarely will such an approach yield positive results, and often all you will accomplish is to draw negative attention from the agency.
Making Government a Little Less Bothersome - Here May Be an Opportunity
In a May address to the American Enterprise Institute, Cass Sunstein of Nudge fame, and also the administrative czar of the the Obama administration, announced the result of a four month study of regulations whose costs out weighed their benefits.
Implications of a Government Shutdown on Federal Contractors
Our nation has experienced 17 federal government shutdowns due to “funding gaps” since 1977. We have had none, however, since late 1995 and early 1996, when the federal government was frozen for 21 days.
The Regulatory Avalanche From Washington, D.C.
The federal government has served notice that it will soon be creating an avalanche of new regulatory and enforcement actions from Washington, D.C., which will place enormous new burdens on employers. Worse, several of the new regulatory strategies will mandate that employers, in effect, demonstrate and document their compliance with employment laws and regulations to all employees, which then can lead to federal enforcement actions, private lawsuits or union organizing.
Narrow Window to Comment on Sweeping New MSHA Litigation Procedures.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administrations (MSHA) quest to reduce the much talked about case backlog at the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission is taking shape. In the May 20, 2010 issue of the Federal Register, the Review Commission proposed a new rule for handling civil penalty proceedings. The proposed rule will create a new category of cases that will be heard before the Review Commission under streamlined rules of procedure called Simplified Proceedings.
The Employment Law Decisions of Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kegan.
President Obama's nomination of Elena Kegan to the Supreme Court is the fourth since Jottings was started in the summer of 2002. In the past I have published links to the employment and labor law decisions of the nominees.
A Closer Look At Congressional Investigations.
For the past few weeks, the news media has been fixated on the Congressional investigation and hearings into purported defects in Toyota vehicles. But why is it such a big story? In reality, Congress has held hundreds of investigative hearings during the past few years on matters involving nearly every industry. This article will review in very basic detail Congress's power to conduct an investigative hearing, the limitations on those powers, and the practical effects of a Congressional investigation.
A Closer Look At Congressional Investigations.
For the past few weeks, the news media has been fixated on the Congressional investigation and hearings into purported defects in Toyota vehicles. But why is it such a big story? In reality, Congress has held hundreds of investigative hearings during the past few years on matters involving nearly every industry. This article will review in very basic detail Congress's power to conduct an investigative hearing, the limitations on those powers, and the practical effects of a Congressional investigation.
Worksite Enforcement in the New Administration.
Worksite Enforcement in the New Administration.
New Compliance and Ethics Rules for Government Contractors and Subcontractors Effective December 24, 2007.
Contractors and subcontractors who enter into at least one government contract expected to exceed $5 million dollars with a performance period of 120 days or more are now subject to a new Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clause, the Contractor Code of Business Ethics and Conduct.
The Workplace Agenda in the New Congress (pdf).
Democrats have taken control of the House and the Senate. Now what?
