In a recent development related to the grant aid, it was found that as Washington gridlock over extended relief for small businesses continues, cities, and local communities came to help. Cities like Akron, and Ohio offered grants through the CARES Act, others are offering equity finance. According to small business experts’ prediction, the probable loss of millions of small businesses over the next six months is an economic catastrophe of historic magnitude for the US economy.
According to a recently filed lawsuit, it was revealed that Deloitte’s 16 weeks of parental leave for its employees’ program has a ‘huge catch.’ The lawsuit revealed that if an employee takes the 16 weeks of leave offered by Deloitte to them, then that employee loses the right to return to their former position. According to one employee when she returned from her paternity leave, she realized that she was jobless. She was told that Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) only offers 12 weeks of job-protected leave.
In an internal announcement made by the e-commerce giant – Amazon – revealed that it plans to hire 100,000 more workers in order to keep pace with e-commerce demand that have increased amid the pandemic. This is the fourth hiring spree of the company that was announced for the US in 2020. About 876,800 people have been hired by the Seattle-based organization as of June 30, 2020. The hiring spree excluded contractors and temporary personnel.
.jpg "Managers can report employees' COVID-19 infections with limitations: ADA")
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in its guidance document that was updated on 8 Sept, 2020, revealed that federal law does not prohibit any manager to report any worker with COVID-19 infections to company officials. The same will be revealed in order to take actions that are consistent with public health guidance. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) the employers are required to keep all the medical information of an employee confidential and that include information about an employee’s COVID-19 symptoms or diagnosis.
According to the email sent to all the employees, the global drug maker AbbVie has started asking the US-based teams to return to the office. In a letter, it was mentioned that company had told employees that working at the office is a critical part of their collaborative cross-functional culture. The employees feel pressured to come to into the office even while they don’t feel safe commuting to the office or working with colleagues in person.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predictions, labor force growth will slow with participation declining in the coming decades. BLS had predicted the same on 1 Sept, 2020 and revealed that the projected changes will be due in part to the fact that almost every member of the baby boomer generation will be over 65by 2029. While the projections forecasted a growth of six million jobs by 2029, BLS revealed that it expected a decline in labor force participation rate from 63.1% to 61.2%. However, the analysis did not include data relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the 5th Circuit rule, the complaint filed by a former university president alleging misconduct by the former employer to the organization that accredited the college wasn’t protected activity. The federal district court had ruled for the college on summary Judgment. The court also stated that Aguillard’s relationship with his successor at best was ‘contentious’ in one word.
About 20 states have either paid or will start issuing an extra $300 a week in unemployment benefits through the federal Lost Wages Assistance program. The states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. An extra $600 a week provided by the CARES Act had ended in late July.
According to the announcement made by Old Navy on 1 Sept, 2020, it has decided to pay its store employees for an eight-hour day if they work at polling stations on election day in November. The payment will be over and above whatever the participating employee will earn from their local jurisdiction for the day. The brand Old Navy has partnered with Power the Polls – a nonprofit advocacy group – and Civic Alliance – a nonpartisan business coalition – promoting participation in democracy to participate in national effort to hire 250, 000 new poll workers.
In a recent ruling dated 8 Sept, 2020, a federal district court judge had blocked ‘vertical’ relationship portion of the US Department of Labor’s joint employment rule. The agency had narrowed the criteria for finding that separate employers can be jointly liable for Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations. In oppose to the rule, a group of states had sued, alleging, among other things, that the rule was inconsistent with the statute. The federal judge agreed, cancelling the ‘vertical’ portion of the rule, though the court has held ‘horizontal’ rule, which regulates situations where in an employee has a relationship with two associated employers.
William Flynn – Amtrak Chief Executive – told Congress that the US passenger railroad needs up to $4.9 billion in government funding in order to avoid service and job cuts, and address mounting losses. The company had asked for a further $1.475 billion bailout in May. This was post getting $1 billion from Congress in April. Amtrak typically receive $2 billion in annual government aid. Amtrak, last week, had announced that it would furlough more than 2,000 workers, or about 10% of its staff on 1st Oct, 2020. The move was announced due to a sharp decline in travel demand from the global pandemic.
The recent ruling by the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals last month of multi-million-dollar jury verdict was reversed for the former engineer of automaker Ford who had alleged racial discrimination and retaliation. Michigan federal jury had ordered Ford to pay the ex-engineer $15 million in punitive damages in addition to $1.7 million in pension and retirement losses. However, the 6th Circuit stated that the district court had erred when it denied the defendant’s motion for summary judgement. It also said that it ‘insufficient evidence’ for the former engineer’s claims of hostile work environment.
In a recent ruling, court has revived a Facebook employee’s race bias suit after the employee showed that supervisor who had declined his promotion was fired for racist comments. The employee had filed a lawsuit against the company when he realized that he was denied a promotion because of race bias. The court, earlier, had ruled out the case and even accepted Facebook’s assertion that the employee was not promoted because he lacked initiative and communication skills. However, on appeal, the 4th Circuit reversed its decision stating that the employee was denied promotion because of one supervisor, who upon investigation was found using racial slurs when talking about Black employees.
According to a report by trade group Petroleum Equipment & Services Association (PESA), released on Tuesday, it was stated that job losses in the oilfield services have topped 100,000 in the US in August. The number is despite some idled drilling projects that were resumed. As per the report there were about 121,000 oilfield jobs lost in the last 12 months and the employment in the US sector was at its lowest level since March 2017. The report also claimed that the bulk of the reported job loss have come since the onset of global pandemic.
In an internal memo, Infosys announced that it planned to hire 12,000 more US workers over the next two years, which would bring its total commitment to 25,000 over five years. The announcement also stated that individuals without traditional four-year degrees will also be a part of the recruitment drive. The announcement was made on 1 Sept, 2020. The announcement also stated that as part of the hiring program, Infosys will train and reskill the news hires as well through its Reskill and Restart initiative that was launched in July.
According to the figures released by Labor Department released on Friday, there has been a surge in nonfarm payrolls by 1.37 million in August. Dow Jones had estimated a surge of 1.32 million. In addition, the unemployment rates dropped to about 8.4% from 10.2% in July. The drop was below the expectations of 9.8%. It is speculated that government hiring had led the way and the gains had also come in retail, education, and health services.
According to the recent survey carried out by Mercer, about 83% of employees revealed that their organizations have been considering implantation of flexible work at a larger scale. The survey stated that employers were considering making remote and flexible work as options a regular part of office life post the pandemic. It was also stated that about 48% of respondents with flexible work options had rated their work-life balance excellent, as compared to about 36% of workers without the flexi-work options. Comparing employees with flexi-work arrangements (54% vs 45%) with those without the option said that they had the emotional support to manage stress.
In an internal memo, Amazon announced on Friday that it planned to create 10,000 more jobs in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, in addition to the 15,000 jobs it had already planned to create in the area over the coming five years. The company has also leased two properties in downtown Bellevue that spans over two million square feet of office space – for the additional employees. Construction of a 43-story tower is also underway which the Amazon has named as Bellevue 600 project.
According to the opinion letter by the US Department of Labor (DOL), dated 31 Aug, 2020, DOL opined that in order for the employers to satisfy their requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers may reimburse delivery drivers who use their personal vehicles for official purposes. The letter clarified that the personal vehicles to complete deliveries with a ‘reasonable approximation of expenses incurred for the benefit of employers rather than the actual amount of expenses incurred.’ As per the letter employers were expected to reimburse fixed vehicle expenses like registration fees, license fees and insurance costs but to the extent that the employees uses that vehicle for trade purpose.
In a bid to show their support to its employees, Google has given an additional holiday ahead of Labor Day weekend to avoid burnout of employees. With the extra day as a holiday the company hopes to preserve ‘collective wellbeing’ as the COVID-19 enters its seventh month. According to the internal memo, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and other top executives at the company were trying to find ways to show their support to employees who are working remotely until at least mid-2021.
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