labor lawAdivision of labor law center

HR professionals or owners are faced with my conflicting HR questions or situations everyday and how to solve the issues can vary depending on who you ask.  Many business owners or HR professionals often ponder the same question, “Is there an agency or source where I can go to get guidance or assistance on these HR issues?”.  Well now there is a solution!  www.HumanResourceBlog.com is now available for any HR professional to come and share their thoughts, questions, or issues and to openly discuss the situation or issue at hand.  Where else would you be able to go to find a community or center that has professionals sharing your same common problems and also having suggestions for you to possibly consider.  Like they say, two brains is better than one.  In this particular case, it’s two professionals better than one! 

www.HumanResourceBlog.com has a goal to build a community strictly for HR professionals all across the states to be able to post and receive answers from actual professionals in the same situation or have the knowledge to possibly guide you to answer.  State laws vary from state to state.  If your organization operates in multi-states, this is the place for you.  www.HumanResourceBlog.com does not limit the answer to any particular state or topic.  It does not have boundaries and/or limitations in the state the question is deriving from.  If you are seeking an answer to your HR question, www.HumanResourceblog.com will be the solution!

Answers are posted daily from Real HR experts that are emailed the questions instantly.  There is no automation to the postings of answers.  The website is strictly for owners, HR professionals, supervisors  and managers to post their HR related issues, questions, or concerns.  Post your questions today! The web site is not intended for employees to post employee related questions. 

Come join and lets build an HR Community together.

Hope to see you there!

Are you a government worker trying to return to your old job after serving in the military?

If so, you may want to know about a new USERRA regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Labor recently.

The regulation extends to government workers the right to file claims for employers’ alleged violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994. The process begins with the same steps that non-governmental employees use, but the appeals procedure is different.

West Virginia USERRA posters should be updated to reflect the change.

All returning veterans begin by filing a claim with the Veterans Employment and Training ACT, or VETS, part of the Labor Department. Most of the time, VETS issues a finding in favor of the employee if the facts of the case show he or she was missing from the workplace for less than 5 years. Sometimes that eligibility is extended to 7 years. Once VETS issues a finding, most managers comply.

It’s at this point, if an appeal must be launched, that your approach is different if you’re a government or U.S. Postal Service worker. Your claim is referred to the Office of Special Counsel. The Merit Systems Protection Board reviews the claim and may award you damages. If you’re employed by a federal intelligence agency, the claim would go to the Inspector General of your agency. There is no charge to you.

For civilian employees, the path is different. After a VETS finding, workers may have their claims referred to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Justice Department sues on their behalf in a federal District Court. There are no charges to the worker. If the employer is found to have willfully violated the USERRA, the worker may be awarded damages. Even workers who bring a suit on their own may receive an awarded for attorney and expert fees along with the damage award.

The law applies to veterans as well as National Guard and Reserve members.

Accurate USERRA posters must be displayed in the workplace, by law.

But how does the new hire reporting system actually work in tracking down delinquent parents and people who are getting unemployment insurance who shouldn’t be. All right, all right. I will review the topic again for the 1,001 time, just because I like you new readers out there, especially if you are from West Virginia, a beautiful state.

Speaking of West Virginia, let’s take a direct look at their labor law on new hire reporting. It’s called the West Virginia Revised Statute 48-18-125, which calls for the reporting of new hires and re-hires within 14 days of their first day of employment.

As it works in West Virginia and other states, one reason the system can keep going on and employers keep reporting new hires is that there is a fine system in place—$25 penalty for each new hire not reporting, or $500 per each new hire not reporting if it was on purpose.

With all of the new hire reports in, the state of West Virginia compiles all of them into a computer database. It then compares this with the database it has for parents who don’t make child support payments. When there is a match, the state act. Also, West Virginia also keeps track of those employers who don’t seem to be participating in the new hire reporting process.

If you turn out to be one of these employers, the state of West Virginia will then send you a letter reminding you about your obligations under the state system. The letter also warns as a legal notice that reminds you that if you continue not to participate, then you face those penalties I mentioned above.

Next, the state database is passed along to the Federal Office of Child Support, who compares West Virginia’s list with the lists of all of the other states, to find delinquent parents in whatever state they may be in.

The West Virginia (WV) Department of Human Resources provides a great deal of help to those that need it. This is a state run agency that provides crucial help in the way of employment and other labor related aspects of the government. Our state’s Department of labor also provides us with a great deal of help in maintaining information flow to those that live here. If you are not sure what the state actually has accomplished over the last few years, take a look.

For example, the West Virginia Department of Human Resources provided information to us in regards to the state’s unemployment rate. Currently, the unemployment rate is at 5.4 percent, which is a bit higher than the national average. The national average is that of 4.8 percent. But, if you look at the bigger picture, you can see that since July of 2003, the state’s unemployment numbers have fallen from 6.2 percent. What has caused this change?

There are a number of things that can lead to this type of change. For example, the West Virginia Department of Human Resources also informs us that since November of 2003, the state has helped to create (with the help of local businesses of course) 27,200 jobs in our state. That is a fair amount of jobs in a short period of time.

More information can be gathered from the Department of Human Resources as well. For example, to help train those new employees for the new positions that have become available; the state has received over 420 million dollars in funds for the Dislocated Worker Fund and the Job Training Fund since 2001. All of this put together is what has lead to an improved economy and the dropping of the unemployment rate. Nevertheless, we still have some ways to go.