Why Target has stopped selling sandblasted jeans #workplacesafety

It’s Leap Day! You may be working for free If you’re a salaried employee and you’re slaving away at work today, you may be working for free. Leap years present an odd compensation dilemma for employees who don’t get paid on an hourly basis. Such workers receive a set salary for a typical year, which [...]

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West Virginia’s mine safety bill does nothing to address problems at Upper Big Branch #UBB via @kenwardjr

Written in blood: Another disaster, another law Members of the West Virginia House of Delegates just passed — with a unanimous vote — a much-watered down version of a mine safety bill with language worked out in closed-door meetings with industry and labor lobbyists, and a key provision that everyone admits is aimed at addressing [...]

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“I was a warehouse wage slave” via @motherjones

Branding soldiers with personality disorder label Is the U.S. military using dubious personality disorder diagnoses to kick out troubled soldiers out of the military without health benefits? James Dao of the New York Times found one clear example of this kind of treatment and unearthed evidence of a larger pattern. Veterans’ advocates note that the [...]

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What has more than a dozen #UVa students hunger striking? Spoiler: It isn’t the #Huguely trial. #workplacefairness

Minimum wages could be lowered in Arizona, Florida Republican lawmakers in Arizona are pushing legislation that would lower the legal minimum wage for younger part-time workers and tipped workers such as restaurant servers, just as Florida lawmakers are considering dropping their state’s tipped rate as well. In both cases, proponents of the measures are arguing [...]

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Obama’s war on whistleblowers?

Pentagon delays endanger whistle-blowers, report says The Pentagon takes too long to investigate whistle-blower complaints from troops, unfairly endangering the careers of those who step forward and damaging the military’s ability to save money and stop fraud, a draft report by the Government Accountability Office says. http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/story/2012-02-22/pentagon-whistle-blower-delays/53198210/1 ABC News correspondent questions Obama administration’s war on [...]

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A big day in workplace safety news #Massey #Apple #Foxconn #Hershey #Syria

Massey mine boss charged in deadly coal mine explosion Federal prosecutors in Charleston, W.Va., have filed the most serious criminal charges yet in the April, 2010, coal mine explosion that left 29 mine workers dead. The conspiracy charges reach into the management ranks of Massey Energy and signal an effort to seek evidence against higher-level [...]

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Lots of news on the minimum wage #Foxconn #homecare #restaurants #fastfood

US Labor Department extends comment period on proposed rule to provide minimum wage and overtime protections for in-home care workers The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has announced a 14-day extension of the comment period for its proposed rule to provide minimum wage and overtime protections for nearly 2 million workers who [...]

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Foxconn auditor finds ‘tons of issues’ #apple #workplacesafety

House transportation bill: lobbying and lawsuits behind move to strip worker protections House Republicans are trying to pass a transportation bill that would strip certain workers of their minimum-wage and overtime protections. As it turns out, several of the companies that would benefit from the change have recently been sued by their employees for allegedly [...]

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#Apple’s problems continue: Were these ‘interns’ coerced into working at #Foxconn?

Federal law slashed needlestick injuries, new UVa. research shows A federal law enacted to protect healthcare workers from being stuck by needles dramatically reduced the number of such injuries, decreasing the possibility for exposure to bloodborne pathogens, research at the University of Virginia School of Medicine has found. http://augustafreepress.com/2012/02/16/federal-law-slashed-needlestick-injuries-uva-research-shows/ State Senate toughens treatment of violence [...]

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Does OSHA consider sexual harassment a ‘recognized hazard’?

Feds: Upper Big Branch sentencing can send message Prosecutors want to make an example of a former security chief at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine who was convicted of lying to investigators after the worst mine disaster in four decades. U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin says Hughie Elbert Stover deserves the maximum possible sentence of [...]

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