N.F.L. Super Bowl ad will stress safety
To the usual lineup of beer and car commercials on Super Bowl Sunday, add this: one about player safety. For the first time, the N.F.L., currently the target of more than a dozen lawsuits accusing it of deliberately concealing information about the effects on players of repeated hits to the head, will use one minute of its own commercial time during its signature event to address player safety, its most critical and sobering problem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/sports/football/nfl-to-address-head-injuries-in-commercial.html?_r=1
Slow progress by OSHA to improve worker health and safety regulations
The Labor Department provided an update on January 20, 2012 to its regulatory agenda, including revised target dates for improved workplace safety and health standards. Several of the rules OSHA now expects to publish in 2012 are regulations the agency previously said would be issued one or two years ago. Missed deadlines, however, are nothing new for OSHA—an agency that has only issued two new major health or safety standards in the last 10 years.
http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/01/slow_progress_by_osha_on_impro.php
Three years after Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed, women still earn far less than men
Sunday marked the third anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first legislation signed into law by President Obama. The law, which expanded the statute of limitations on fair pay lawsuits, was a response to a Supreme Court ruling against Ledbetter in her fair pay case. Though the law expanded the legal remedies available to women who have been victims of discriminatory pay, little has been done to address the pay gap that exists between male and female employees.
http://www.todaysworkplace.org/2012/01/30/three-years-after-ledbetter-fair-pay-act-passed-women-still-earn-far-less-than-men/
Women don’t think they deserve raises
Gals! If you don’t think you’re worth more money why would anyone else think you’re worth more money? I just read two reports this morning about employees and their expectations for raises this year, and it turns out male workers are pretty optimistic. Women, not so much.
http://www.evetahmincioglu.com/web/blog/2012/01/31/women-dont-think-they-deserve-raises/
Pregnant, and pushed out of a job
Few people realize that getting pregnant can mean losing your job. Imagine a woman who, seven months into her pregnancy, is fired from her position as a cashier because she needed a few extra bathroom breaks. Or imagine another pregnant employee who was fired from her retail job after giving her supervisors a doctor’s note requesting she be allowed to refrain from heavy lifting and climbing ladders during the month and a half before her maternity leave. We see this kind of case in our legal clinic all the time. It happens every day to pregnant women in the United States, and it happens thanks to a gap between discrimination laws and disability laws.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/opinion/pregnant-and-pushed-out-of-a-job.html?_r=2&ref=opinion
Federal work pays better, government study finds
Federal civilian workers, on average, get 16 percent more in wages and benefits than their private-sector counterparts, according to a study released Monday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The study found that the pay differential varied significantly by education level but on average, the federal government paid its civilian employees 2 percent higher wages and 48 percent more in benefits than private-sector employers.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/30/BUE81N0K8M.DTL
Revel, Atlantic City’s newest casino, to impose term limits for employees
In this sluggish labor market, many job-seekers would be happy to land a full-time position. But for workers at one Atlantic City casino, getting a job may not mean keeping it. Workers at Atlantic City’s highly anticipated Revel casino, including bellhops and blackjack dealers, will be subject to term limits of four to six years, at the end of which they will repeat the hiring process, NPR reports.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/30/revel-atlantic-citys-new-casino-impose-term-limits-employees_n_1242743.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
Brazilian Blowout maker agrees to labeling changes
The maker of a popular line of hair-straightening products has agreed to alert consumers that two of its formulations emit formaldehyde gas, a possible carcinogen, California’s attorney general announced Monday. The labeling changes are designed to settle a lawsuit the state filed in November against the company that makes Brazilian Blowout products, which have been a boon for those who dislike their naturally curly tresses but a source of health concerns.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/brazilian-blowout-maker-agrees-labeling-15475750#.TygZt9SNTQp
Wyo. safety officials issue citations for August oil facility explosion that killed 3 workers
Wyoming safety regulators have issued 19 citations for an explosion and fire that killed three workers near an oil well last year, an example of the trouble that has plagued a state that consistently records some of the nation’s worst workplace fatality rates.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/wyo-safety-officials-issue-citations-for-august-oil-facility-explosion-that-killed-3-workers/2012/01/30/gIQAr1LncQ_story.html
US Department of Labor’s OSHA fines Polymerics in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, after worker’s hand amputated by shear machine
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Polymerics with four safety violations, including a willful violation for failing to ensure that a rubber-cutting shear was kept in good working order after a worker suffered an amputation at the company’s Cuyahoga Falls rubber manufacturing facility.
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=21708
