Tag Archives: employment

The New York Times reports: Most employers in New York City would no longer be able to force job applicants to take drug tests for marijuana use, under a bill overwhelmingly approved this week by the City Council. If the drug-screening law is enacted, it would put New York in relatively uncharted territory. Several drug policy and employment experts said …

NBC News reports: Attorney General William Barr ordered an investigation into the Department of Justice’s treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender staff following a complaint from DOJ Pride, its LGBTQ employee resource group. In an April 4 letter to DOJ Pride released Friday, Barr said he was “troubled” by the group’s concerns, which were raised in a March 27 …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: The Justice Department has grown increasingly hostile toward its own LGBT workers, causing top talent to quit as they experience discrimination and “declining morale,” according to a group of LGBT employees who confronted Attorney General Bill Barr in a letter this week. Other workers cited in the letter said the FBI academy discriminates against …

USA Today reports: Workers on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign voted to unionize on Friday, becoming what is possibly the first presidential campaign staff in history to organize. A majority of the Democrat’s staff signed on to unionize, meaning all current and future employees would be part of the bargaining process for better pay and benefits. The workers, everyone below …

Yahoo News reports: The U.S. economy added a sharply lower-than-expected 20,000 non-farm payrolls in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Consensus expectations called for 180,000 positions to be added for the month, according to Bloomberg data. February’s headline reading for new payrolls was the weakest in 17 months. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8%, from 4% in January. …

Axios reports: The House Committee on Education and Labor voted along party lines Wednesday to advance a bill raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 by 2024. Democrats argue the bill would provide wage hikes to nearly 40 million Americans. Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to bring the legislation to the House floor for a vote, where it will …

The Lincoln Journal Star reports: It wasn’t exactly a vote on the bill that would give protections to LGBTQ workers, but it was a vote that ended debate and the bill’s chances of passing this session. The bill (LB627) that would ensure workers couldn’t be fired or discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity will be put …

The Wall Street Journal reports: New York City is seeking to put an end to policies that restrict or ban natural hair and hairstyles closely connected to racial, ethnic and cultural identities. The New York City Commission on Human Rights issued new legal guidelines Monday clarifying that it considers such restrictions to be unlawful discrimination that disproportionately affects black people …

The New Jersey Advance reports: New Jersey’s Democratic governor and legislative leaders have reached a highly anticipated agreement to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour for most workers by 2024. Under the deal, many workers would see their wages rise gradually to a $15 an hour, though some, including those employed by small businesses with five or …

The Washington Post reports: The National Treasury Employees Union became the second federal employees’ union to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the shutdown. Tuesday’s collective action alleges more than 400,000 federal employees — including tens of thousands of NTEU members — are being forced to work without pay during the partial government closure. The complaint asked that …

Via press release from Equality Ohio: Today, Governor John Kasich issued Executive Order 2018-12K to take a significant step in ensuring that all Ohioans, including LGBTQ Ohioans, are protected from discrimination in state employment. This Executive Order explicitly prohibits discrimination in state employment on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and other protected bases such as race, …

The New York Daily News reports: New Jersey’s top law enforcement agency is looking into claims of widespread harassment and immigration fraud at President Trump’s Garden State golf club after several former and current housekeepers alleged racially-charged mistreatment, the Daily News has learned. Anibal Romero, a Newark-based attorney, said Friday the state attorney general’s office recently reached out to him …

On Friday, minutes after Trump signed the so-called USMCA trade deal, the replacement for NAFTA, GOP House Rep. Doug Lamborn rushed out a wailing statement that the deal’s LGBT employment protections threaten US sovereignty. Dozens of anti-LGBT House Republicans have signed Lamborn’s complaining letter to Trump. But as it turns out, those protections may be effectively useless for LGBT Americans. …

The Telegraph reports: British companies are planning to microchip some of their staff in order to boost security and stop them accessing sensitive areas. Biohax, a Swedish company that provides human chip implants, told the Telegraph it was in talks with a number of UK legal and financial firms to implant staff with the devices. One prospective client, which cannot …

USA Today reports: The economy added a healthy 250,000 jobs in October, the Labor Department said Friday in the last employment report before midterm elections that President Trump has cast as a critical referendum on his stewardship of the economy. The unemployment rate was unchanged at a near 50-year low of 3.7 percent. Annual wage growth topped 3 percent for …

The New York Times reports: A federal district judge in Washington struck down most of the key provisions of three executive orders that President Trump signed in late May that would have made it easier to fire federal employees. The ruling, issued early Saturday, is a blow to Republican efforts to rein in public-sector labor unions, which states like Wisconsin …

Bloomberg Law reports: A group of 16 states urged the U.S. Supreme Court Aug. 23 to rule that companies can fire workers based on their sexual orientation and gender identity without violating federal workplace discrimination law. The states, led by Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, asked the justices to overturn an appeals court decision against a Michigan funeral home that …

From a paid press release posted by Christian Newswire: Despite mounting pressures for Christians to keep quiet about their faith, a new book by Pastor Steve Reynolds and David L. Winters recommend just the opposite. “At this point in our nation’s history, every institution needs strong leadership to survive and thrive,” Winters said. “There are many forces seeking to tear …

The New York Times reports: After a succession of political setbacks in onetime strongholds and a landmark defeat in the Supreme Court, organized labor has notched a hard-won victory as Missouri voters overrode a legislative move to curb union power. A measure on the ballot on Tuesday asked voters to pass judgment on a prospective law barring private-sector unions from …

CNBC reports: The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that non-union workers cannot be forced to pay fees to public sector unions. The case, one of the most hotly anticipated of the term, concerns whether public employees can be forced to pay fees that fund the work of public sector unions. Some experts have said that a holding in favor of …