labor lawAdivision of labor law center

A combination of efforts by President Obama’s administration and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), backed by the courts, has extended the deadline for implementation of new E-Verify regulations for federal contractors.

The original deadline was January 1, 2009. That has been delayed until May 21, 2009. As a result, federal contracts will have several additional weeks in which to comply with E-Verify.

Starting on May 21, any companies that enter into contracts with the federal government will be mandated to use E-Verify in order to double-check the immigration and legal work status of new employers.

A confluence of events led to the delay. For one, President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, had sent memos to all federal agencies urging them to delay the effective dates of regulations pushed through during the final days of the (more…)

The new stimulus package has employers scrambling to conform to the COBRA expansion and take advantage of the COBRA subsidy.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or ARRA, also known as President Obama’s stimulus package, health care premiums for laid off employees are partially subsidized.

The bill, signed into law by President Barack Obama on February 17, 2009, provides a government subsidy of COBRA continuation coverage for a maximum of 9 months for certain laid-off workers and their eligible dependents. The measure does not cover employees who voluntarily quit.

Under the ARRA, plan administrators need to inform eligible employees and their beneficiaries of the program, implement extended COBRA coverage periods, and implement administrative procedures to take advantage of the subsidy.

In one of the major changes, the ARRA will subsidize 65% of the COBRA premium charged (more…)

Several features of the $780 billion stimulus plan passed this week will affect how Human Resources professionals perform their jobs in 2009 and beyond.

The goal of the law signed by President Barack Obama on February 17, 2009 is to save or create more than 3 million jobs. The bill, H.R. 1, was developed jointly by the House and Senate.

During negotiation, members of the House and Senate removed all mention of the federal government’s E-Verify system. The initial bill passed in the House would have required that any business receiving funds from the federal government under the stimulus bill use that system to verify that all employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S., using that system.

E-Verify is still required by many states and local governments, and is free to all private employers in the country. All federal contractors will be required to implement E-Verify later this year.

In addition, the stimulus bill requires that any employer receiving aid hire U.S. workers who have been laid off before recruiting and hiring workers from other countries on H-1B visas. This measure is expected to have the biggest impact on IT employees. (more…)

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…)

An new executive order requires federal contractors to post notices informing employees of their right to form unions and collectively bargain. This requirement must be included in every federal contract along with language giving the government the right to terminate/suspend the contract or even debar the contractor for noncompliance.       

Under Executive Order 13496, every federal contractor is required to post a notice informing employees of their rights to form unions and collectively bargain. This executive order overturns an order signed by President George W. Bush early during his administration.

Under the Executive Order signed by President Barack Obama on Friday, January 30, 2009, this requirement must be included in every federal contract along with language giving the government the right to terminate or suspend the contract if the employer does not comply.

In fact, employers who fail to post the required notice can be debarred for noncompliance.

The Executive Order signed by President Obama focuses specifically on (more…)