12-12-2024

Since 1938, employers may pursue certificates from the Department of Labor that authorize them to pay disabled workers less than the federal minimum wage—currently $7.25 per hour. President Joe Biden promised to increase these wages in his 2020 presidential election campaign. The Biden Administration proposes to bar the DOL from issuing new certificates and plans to phase out the current ones over the next three years. As of May 2024, about 800 employers have these certificates, and the changes will impact about 40,000 workers.

12-11-2024

Women over 55 are working longer, according to a piece in the New York Times. Some older women continue working because they enjoy it, while others need the income. In 2023, women 55 and over made up 33.6% of labor force participation, an increase of seven percentage points from 2000 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). The percentage jump is higher for women in their 60s and 70s.

12-10-2024

A current Apple employee is suing the company for allegedly spying on its workers through their personal iCloud accounts and non-work devices. Amar Bhakta has worked in Apple’s advertising technology department since 2020. He claims the company requires employees to give up their right to personal privacy to work there, including allowing Apple to “engage in physical video and electronic surveillance of them” wherever they are and after they are no longer working for Apple.

12-05-2024

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill prohibiting transgender students in the state from using bathrooms aligned with their gender identity. The new law applies to students from kindergarten through college. While Ohio joins approximately twelve other states with similar laws, this law is broader than most because it includes college students and private schools.

12-04-2024

In 2019, Disney employee LaRonda Rasmussen filed a lawsuit asserting that the company paid her less than her six male coworkers in the same role. One of those men allegedly earned $20,000 more than her. She brought the gender discrimination suit under the California Equal Pay Act. The suit became a class action as 9,000 current and former female employees joined. The suit alleged that Disney engaged in an “enterprise-wide compensation policy” of paying women less than men “in part because Disney would base starting pay on prior salary, which historically includes gender-based disparities.”

12-03-2024

In 2020, Walmart’s CEO pledged action to create a more inclusive environment for its employees and to address systemic racism. Today, Walmart will no longer share data on LGBTQ inclusion, cut back on LGBTQ-themed merchandise, stop using DEI and Latinx in its communications, and end its center committed to racial diversity.

11-27-2024

According to AARP, about 57 million American workers do not have access to a retirement plan through their jobs. Policy experts predict this lack of savings will result in a retirement crisis. Only the highest-income baby boomers are expected to have a sustainable retirement income (CNBC.com). A bigger pool of older adults with insufficient income will burden states and their ability to provide public assistance. Relatively new state-sponsored plans may offer help.

11-26-2024

About 15 years ago, Google sent a confidential memo to its employees intended to help minimize worker comments that could incriminate the company (New York Times). The memo cautioned employees to think carefully about what they wrote in office communications. An internal instant messaging default setting was changed to “off the record.” The company also encouraged employees to put “attorney-client privileged” on many documents and add the company’s lawyers irrespective of whether legal questions were involved.

11-25-2024

Newly elected Sarah McBride is the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress. A Republican lawmaker wasted no time in targeting her. As McBride participated in the new member orientation before her January swearing-in, Nancy Mace of South Carolina introduced a new resolution that is all about McBride. Mace’s resolution would bar McBride, as a transgender woman, from using women’s restrooms and changing rooms in the Capitol buildings.