labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Effective May 21, 2009 companies entering into new federal contracts will have to use E-Verify to double-check the immigration and legal work status of new employees. This deadline has been delayed from January 15, 2009. 

The Office of Management and Budget or OMB recently extended the deadline after a request by the SHRM, or Society of Human Resource Management.

President Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sent a memo to all federal agencies, suggesting that they delay effective dates of any regulations introduced during the last few months of the Bush Administration. SHRM had partnered with other business organizations to fight the new regulation in court.

The Department of Justice concurred with the SHRM request to delay the deadline. Although a federal district court judge in Maryland must review the delay, it seems certain to be approved.

This action gives federal contractors (more…)

 A Florida teacher was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for slavery. According to testimony in a Fort Lauderdale court, Maude Paulin forced a Haitian girl to work without pay seven days per week for more than seven years.   

While many employers including Target, Wal-mart, Starbucks, Walgreens and others have reached settlements involving minimum wage violations, few come close to the level of abuse in this case.

The prosecution showed that while Paulin was a respected middle-school teacher by day, by night she kept a young teen – the same age as her students—in primitive conditions, forcing the girl to work long hours and sleep on the floor. Still, the employer maintains that she wants only good things for the worker.

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 Just in time to celebrate Memorial Day, the Department of Justice or DOJ announces a spate of recent convictions under USERRA. The USERRA regulations provide job protection for veterans.

In the first class action lawsuit ever under USERRA, on April 17, 2008 the DOJ

Reached an agreement that American Airlines will pay 353 pilots a total of $345,773 for the loss of vacation and sick leave benefits while on military duty. In addition, American agreed to provide additional sick leave worth about $215,000.

American Airlines is the nation’s largest commercial air carrier. Not coincidentally, American recently announced that it will charge every passenger $15 for the first checked bag on each domestic flight.

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