Tag Archives: employment

Roll Call reports: The Supreme Court confronts a major civil rights issue Tuesday over how broadly the justices should read the word “sex” in a 55-year-old anti-discrimination law — and a key aspect is Congress’ current push to clarify that the law covers LGBT individuals. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits private companies from discriminating against …

USA Today reports: Hiring slowed in September as employers added 136,000 jobs, fueling recession concerns and possibly raising the odds of another Federal Reserve rate cut this month. The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% to 3.5%, a new 50-year low, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists expected 145,000 job gains, according to a Bloomberg survey. Partly offsetting the weak showing: …

The Indianapolis Star reports: The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday issued a Statement of Interest in support of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in its ongoing dispute with a former Catholic school teacher who alleges he was wrongfully terminated because he was in a same-sex marriage. Joshua Payne-Elliott is currently suing the archdiocese, alleging it illegally interfered with his contractual …

CNBC reports: The United Auto Workers union plans to strike against General Motors following the two sides not reaching a tentative deal before a Saturday night deadline. The strike, depending on its length, could easily cost GM hundreds of millions of dollars. The last time the union declared a strike at GM was in 2007. The two-day work stoppage was …

NPR reports: U.S. employers added 130,000 jobs in August, according to a monthly snapshot from the Labor Department, signaling a slowdown in the pace of job growth. Forecasters surveyed by the Reuters news service had predicted job gains of around 158,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%. Manufacturers added just 3,000 jobs. The jobs total would have been lower …

Politico reports: Bernie Sanders won his first endorsement from a national union on Monday, becoming the second presidential candidate to do so in the 2020 primary. The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, a 35,000-member union, announced that it is backing Sanders at its convention in Pittsburgh. Sanders delivered a speech to the union’s members on Monday before …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: The Trump administration took its hardest line yet to legalize anti-gay discrimination on Friday when it asked the Supreme Court to declare that federal law allows private companies to fire workers based only on their sexual orientation. An amicus brief filed by the DOJ weighs in on two cases involving gay workers and what …

MarketWatch reports: Turns out hiring wasn’t nearly as strong in 2018 and early 2019 as the government initially reported — by about a half-million jobs. The economy had about 501,000 fewer jobs as of March 2019 than the Bureau of Labor Statistics initially calculated in its survey of business establishments. That’s the largest revision since the waning stages of the …

Axios reports: Bernie Sanders released a new plan Wednesday that would overhaul labor laws in the U.S. to increase union membership and rights. Why it matters: The Vermont senator is competing for union endorsements against a wide Democratic field. The plan’s release is timed with the Iowa state convention for the AFL-CIO. For unions, the plan would: Allow employees to …

GeekWire reports: LinkedIn blocked or removed 21.6 million fake accounts on its platform from January to June of this year, a sign that the Microsoft-owned social network is actively fighting some of the same issues that have plagued Facebook, Twitter and others. In a blog post, LinkedIn’s Head of Trust and Safety Paul Rockwell wrote that the vast majority of …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: The Trump administration on Friday took one of its most aggressive steps yet to legalize anti-transgender discrimination by telling the Supreme Court that federal law allows firing workers solely for being transgender, arguing a Michigan funeral home could fire a transgender woman because she wanted to wear women’s clothing on the job. Although the …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: The Trump administration on Wednesday formally proposed a new rule to let businesses with federal contracts cite religious objections as a valid reason to discriminate against their workers on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, LGBTQ status, and other characteristics — thereby skirting worker protections created by past presidents. But the Trump …

The Associated Press reports: A Virginia restaurant operator has agreed to pay $40,000 to resolve a lawsuit that claims its employees routinely harassed a gay server with homophobic epithets and taunted him about his sexuality. A federal judge on Thursday signed off on the settlement between the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Mejia Corp., which does business as El …

From the real estate site Clever: To understand how expensive the American Dream has become — and whether it is still achievable today — we gathered Census data from 1960 to 2017 on home prices, rents, and household income. After adjusting for inflation over time, the future of the American Dream seems rather gloomy: Median home prices increased 121% nationwide …

The Associated Press reports: Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad [photo] and a staffer discriminated against the state’s then-commissioner of workers’ compensation in 2011 because he’s gay, and the ex-official is entitled to $1.5 million for emotional distress, a jury said Monday. Polk County jurors found that Chris Godfrey not only proved the discrimination occurred, but also showed he was retaliated …

Chris Johnson reports at The Washington Blade: The U.S. Supreme Court has designed Oct. 8 as the date when it will hear arguments on whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to cases of anti-LGBT discrimination, setting up a showdown for when LGBT rights in all areas of life will hang in the balance. On Monday, …

CNBC reports: The Supreme Court on Monday took up job discrimination cases that could for the first time resolve at a national level whether lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers can be fired based on their identity. The cases come as federal courts as well as independent agencies within the Trump administration remain divided over whether Title VII of the …

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 …