The Laconic Law Blog

The U.S. Department of Labor released its report for May 2008 on the employment situation in the U.S.  The table of contents for the report can be found here.  This is the DOL summary:

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION:  MAY 2008

The unemployment rate rose from 5.0 to 5.5 percent in May, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down (-49,000), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  In May, employment continued to fall in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and temporary help services, while health care continued to add jobs.  Average hourly earnings rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month.

The U.S. Department of Labor has posted a new Administrator-signed FLSA opinion letter regarding the application of the administrative exemption.  The opinion letter can be found here.  The position is question was a Product Technology Application and Marketing Analyst (PTA).  The letter concludes that the position is exempt.

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According to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, the DOL has released a new “elaws” tool to help employers comply with the recordkeeping, posting and notice requirements of various labor and employment laws.  The elaws site can be found here.

The website notes:

This Advisor provides three basic starting points depending on your interests and needs:

• FirstStep - Employment Law Overview Advisor provides a short primer on each law’s basic provisions as well as any related recordkeeping, reporting and notice requirements.
• FirstStep - Recordkeeping, Reporting, and Notices Advisor provides detailed explanations of each law’s recordkeeping, reporting and notice requirements.
• FirstStep - Poster Advisor provides access to short descriptions of DOL poster requirements and links to printable posters.

Please note that the FirstStep Employment Law Advisor is intended as a guide on major DOL laws – it does not cover all laws administered by DOL. In addition, the system will not identify laws administered by other federal agencies that might be applicable to your business or organization.

The Department of Labor has issued several new opinion letters related to the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The Administrator signed letters (FLSA2008-1 and FLSA2008-2) can be found here.  The non-Administrator signed letter (FLSA-2008-5NA) can be found here.

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Following up on yesterday’s post on new H1-B rules, I noticed a press release from the Department of Labor announcing that it had charged a New York medical staffing company with multiple violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act relating to H1-B visas after it completed a wage/hour investigation of the company that had resulted in a finding of $3 million in back pay liability.

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The U.S. Department of Labor released January statistics for unemploment, payroll employment and average hourly earnings.  Click here for the employment situation summary.

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The U.S. Department of Labor announced a record wage recovery for workers in FY 2007.

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The U.S. Department of Labor announced December 10, 2007, that CVS Pharmacy, Inc. will pay $226,598 in civil penalties and $38,151 in back wages in connection with the settlement of an FLSA investigation into wage and youth employment violations.

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The U.S. DOL released its November Employment Situation data.  The report shows unemployment holding steady at 4.7% for November 2007 and average hourly earnings rising 8 cents.  Last year, the jobless rate was 4.5%.  According to the DOL, employment rose in service industries in November, but fell in construction, manufacturing and financial services.  Leisure, hospitality and accommodations employment also edged up in November.

The DOL released its quarterly publication The Labor Advocate.  The following are headlines in this issue (with our comments).  Worth noting are the $1 million overtime settlement and the $4.5 million court award for independent contractors misclassified as employees.

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The Department of Labor released its revised Third Quarter productivity statistics today.  The statistics show increased productivity in all sectors.

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