Cracking down on job-candidate credit checks
Last week, the California legislature sent the governor a bill that would ban most employers from running credit checks on job applicants. If the governor signs the bill into law (which this web site tells us he’s likely to), California will become the biggest get yet for those pushing for such laws around the nation. Is this just what a country full of unemployed people with wrecked credit needs? Or is it, as HR managers have been hollering, a way of hindering them from finding good, upstanding workers?
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/09/26/cracking-down-on-job-candidate-credit-checks/
Long-term jobless face issue with references
The long-term jobless face a big dilemma when it comes to hunting for a job — a lack of recent references. Maybe you haven’t worked for six months or a year and don’t have someone who can vouch for what you’ve been doing; or your references are out of work themselves. It’s a problem hiring managers and recruiters are seeing more often, and it’s a problem that job seekers have a tough time grappling with.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44639552/ns/business-careers/t/long-term-jobless-face-issue-references/#.ToCgk9SPMXh
Unemployment: Older jobless twice as likely to become 99ers
Older workers are less likely to lose their jobs than younger workers, but once they do, they’re more than twice as likely to be out of work for 99 weeks or longer. Among jobless workers younger than 35, 8.1 percent had been out of work for 99 weeks. But 16.3 percent of jobless workers older than 45 have been out of work that long, according to a new report from Gerald Mayer, a labor analyst with the Congressional Research Service. Another startling finding from Mayer’s report is that even though workers without college education were more likely to be unemployed, jobless workers with bachelor’s degrees were no less likely to become 99ers than jobless workers with just high school diplomas.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/23/unemployment-older-worker_n_978088.html
To post or not to post? Employers, workers struggle over Facebook
In the age of instant tweets and impulsive Facebook posts, some companies are still trying to figure out how they can limit what their employees say about work online without running afoul of the law. Confusion about what workers can or can’t post has led to a surge of more than 100 complaints at the National Labor Relations Board — most within the past year — and created uncertainty for businesses about how far their social media policies can go.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44666868/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/post-or-not-post-employers-workers-struggle-over-facebook/#.ToCjjtSPMXh
The temps-who-are-really-employees swindle
If an employee walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, is he or she screwed if an employer doesn’t treat them like a duck? In the world of employee misclassification, the answer is yes. Lots of you are working your tails off for employers and if you’re doing it as an independent contractor or temp but are really acting like a full time employee you could be eligible for benefits, overtime and even unemployment if the company decides they don’t need your services any more. Not to mention lost taxes that employers would be paying if you were called an employee.
http://www.evetahmincioglu.com/web/blog/2011/09/26/the-temps-who-are-really-employees-swindle/
US poultry groups fight proposed safety rules
A proposed requirement to increase the types of work related incidents that must be reported to OSHA within eight hours is facing criticism from an alliance of US poultry groups. The proposed rule expands the reporting requirement for hospitalisations to require reporting of a single employee hospitalisation within eight hours for work-related incidents.
http://www.worldpoultry.net/news/us-poultry-groups-fight-proposed-safety-rules-9401.html
Workplace regulators have huge job, few resources to police oilfield safety
The Bismarck office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has four people who monitor compliance for 56,000 businesses in North Dakota and South Dakota. That number is five less than it was in 2000 in a region with 5,700 producing oil and gas wells and 199 working rigs.
http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/workplace-regulators-have-huge-job-few-resources-to-police-oilfield/article_40565398-e62d-11e0-ab93-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1Z5o5clZE
In death, fired nurse aids rights of workers
Anne Whitledge will never get her job back at Maxim Healthcare Services — or another paycheck or a note of thanks for her service. The St. Paul nurse died of brain cancer last year at 43. But under a federal court settlement announced this week, the Maryland health care corporation that fired Whitledge in 2009 will send a letter of condolence to her survivors — along with a check for $160,000. The closely watched lawsuit that produced Wednesday’s settlement marks an important test of the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and is likely to change the way employers treat ailing employees, attorneys said Thursday.
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/130354278.html
OSHA proposes $124,000 in fines for ABC Coke
Tarrant-based ABC Coke was cited today with 27 safety and health violations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, after a worker died in March. The worker who died in March was crushed by a vehicle after a coal chute jammed and he attempted to fix it.
http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2011/09/osha_proposes_124000_in_fines.html
Jenny’s Dexter Market owner says hayrides have stopped following worker’s accident
Jenny’s Dexter Market has stopped offering hayrides following an accident involving a female worker Saturday afternoon. Burt Hoey, owner of the market, west of downtown Dexter, says Jenny’s has stopped the horse-led hayrides indefinitely after an employee reportedly fell forward off the wagon after one of the horses tripped. He said the worker, a 23-year-old woman, was leading the hayride, holding tight to the reins when one of the horses tripped and lunged forward, pulling her off the wagon.
http://annarbor.com/news/dexter/farmers-market-owner-says-hayrides-stopped-following-workers-accident/
