Tag Archives: employment

The Washington Post reports: A North Carolina-based hospital system announced Monday that roughly 175 unvaccinated employees were fired for failing to comply with the organization’s mandatory coronavirus vaccination policy, the latest in a series of health-care dismissals over coronavirus immunization. Novant Health said last week that 375 unvaccinated workers — across 15 hospitals and 800 clinics — had been suspended …

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Biden is expected to meet Wednesday with executives from companies including Walt Disney Co. , Microsoft Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. to advance his Covid-19 vaccination requirements for the private sector. The White House meeting comes after a plan Mr. Biden announced last week designed to bring the pandemic under control, which includes …

CNBC reports: Amazon said Thursday it will offer to pay 100% of college tuition for its 750,000 U.S. hourly employees. The e-commerce giant is following the lead of other large U.S. companies that are dangling perks such as education benefits or more pay to woo workers in a tight job market. Starting in January, Amazon said, it will cover the …

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. economy added just 235,000 jobs in August, a disappointing month of hiring as the delta variant caused coronavirus caseloads around the country to spike. The unemployment rate stayed mostly level at 5.4 percent. The stubbornness of the coronavirus, fueled by the transmissibility of the new variant and the country’s large pockets of unvaccinated people, …

From Walgreens’ corporate blog: Walgreens is further investing in its hourly team members who provide trusted care and services in communities across the U.S. Walgreens will increase the starting hourly wage for all team members to $15.00 an hour, taking effect in phases beginning in October of this year and are expected to be fully implemented by November 1, 2022. …

Bloomberg Law reports: Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. violated Illinois anti-bias law by denying a transgender woman employee access to the women’s bathroom, a state appellate court ruled in a case of first impression. Meggan Sommerville’s sex is “unquestionably female” and Hobby Lobby unlawfully discriminated against her based on her gender identity, the Illinois Second District Appellate Court said in its …

CNBC reports: Initial jobless claims declined for the third consecutive week as the U.S. labor market continued its recovery from last year’s recession. New claims for jobless benefits totaled 375,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, matching estimates from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The reading for the previous week was revised upward by 2,000 to 387,000 claims. The …

The New York Times reports: The American economy roared into midsummer with a strong gain in hiring, but there are questions about its ability to maintain that momentum as the Delta variant of the coronavirus causes growing concern. Employers added 943,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department reported Friday, but the data was collected in the first half of the …

Houston’s Fox News affiliate reports: Several dozen protesters gathered Saturday outside Houston Methodist Hospital to voice their opposition to the hospital’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy. “I’m running out of options for my career because of a mandatory vaccine that could affect my fertility,” said Keri R, a registered nurse previously at Houston Methodist. “They’re not giving proper informed consent,” said …

USA Today reports: In the first federal ruling on vaccine mandates, a Houston judge late Saturday dismissed a lawsuit by hospital employees who declined the COVID-19 shot – a decision that could have a ripple effect across the nation. The case involved Houston Methodist, which was the first hospital system in the country to require that all its employees get …

Bloomberg News reports: U.S. job growth accelerated in May and the unemployment rate fell, signaling firms are making progress filling a record number of openings as the economy powers up. Payrolls increased by 559,000 last month after a revised 278,000 gain in April, according to a Labor Department report Friday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists was …

CNBC reports: Initial jobless claims fell below 400,000 for the first time since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic as the labor market continues to recover, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled 385,000 for the week ended May 29, a decline from the previous week’s 405,000 and below the Dow Jones estimate of 393,000. …

From the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: The federal EEO laws do not prevent an employer from requiring all employees physically entering the workplace to be vaccinated for COVID-19, subject to the reasonable accommodation provisions of Title VII and the ADA and other EEO considerations. These principles apply if an employee gets the vaccine in the community or from the employer. …

Bloomberg News reports: Applications for U.S. state unemployment insurance fell last week to a fresh pandemic low, signaling steady improvement in the job market as remaining business restrictions are lifted. Initial claims in regular state programs decreased by 34,000 to 444,000 in the week ended May 15, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The drop in jobless applications shows the labor …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Consumers are splurging on cars and furniture—and facing extended waits for delivery. Restaurants and gyms are reopening—and struggling to find workers. Factories and home builders are trying to ramp up—but are short on semiconductors or raw materials. The Covid-19 outbreak paralyzed both supply and demand last spring. This spring, vaccinations and government stimulus have created …

CNN reports: Two months after his effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour ran into the Senate parliamentarian buzz saw, President Joe Biden is set to use his executive powers to hike the pay of hundreds of thousands of federal contract workers. The President is expected to issue an executive order on Tuesday that increases contract …

CBS News reports: Amazon has beaten back a historic effort by workers to form a collective bargaining unit in a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, with about two-thirds of ballots cast in the union election voting against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, according to a tally by the National Labor Relations Board. The final tally showed 1,798 votes …

Reuters reports: Amazon.com Inc has apologized to U.S. Representative Mark Pocan, admitting to scoring an “own goal” in its initial denial of his suggestion that its drivers were sometimes forced to urinate in bottles during their delivery rounds. “We know that drivers can and do have trouble finding restrooms because of traffic or sometimes rural routes, and this has been …

NBC News reports: The U.S. economy added 916,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 6 percent, in the strongest indication yet that the labor market is finally working its way back to pre-pandemic norms as the number of vaccinations continues to rise. The hiring and employment data, released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, firmly beat …

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports: While Tammy McCoy was outside taking a break, according to the complaint, assistant general manager Kerri Ann Show said she was Christian and then asked McCoy, “what religion are you?” McCoy, who was surprised by the question but answered because Show was her supervisor, responded, “I’m Pagan,” the lawsuit said. “Show made a face and immediately …