Tag Archives: employment

Temp Census Workers Buoy Lackluster Jobs Report

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 …

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Bernie Lands First Endorsement From National Union

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 …

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Trump To SCOTUS: Legalize Firing People For Being Gay

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 …

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Revision: 500,000 Fewer Jobs Created Than Reported

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 …

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Bernie Issues Plan To Strengthen Union Worker Rights

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 …

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LinkedIn Blocks/Removes 21.6 Million Fake Accounts

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 …

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Trump Administration Petitions Supreme Court To Legalize Firing People Merely For Being Transgender

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 …

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Trump Administration Proposes Rule Allowing Federal Contractors To Discriminate Against LGBTs And Others

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 …

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Restaurant To Pay $40K For Anti-Gay Abuse Of Staffer

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 …

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Home Prices Grew 4X Faster Than Income Since 1960

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 …

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IOWA: Gay Former State Official Wins $1.5 Million In Discrimination Lawsuit Against GOP Former Governor

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 …

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SCOTUS To Hear LGBT Worker Rights On October 8th

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, …

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SCOTUS To Hear LGBT Workplace Discrimination Cases

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 …

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NYC Moves To Ban Pot Use Testing For Job Applicants

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 …

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AG Bill Barr Orders Probe Into Treatment Of LGBT Staffers At DOJ After Complaint From Employee Group

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 …

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LGBT Staffers Denounce Treatment And Morale At DOJ

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 …

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Bernie 2020 Staffers Unionize In Campaigning First

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 …

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Labor Dept Issues Weakest Jobs Report In 17 Months

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. …

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Dems Advance Bill For $15 Federal Minimum Wage

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 …

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NEBRASKA: Bill To Protect LGBT Workers Fails After GOP Reps Claim “Reverse Discrimination” Against Christians

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 …

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