Employment

DALLAS — Texas’ Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in favor of a former Tarrant County College District employee who claimed she was fired from her job after disclosing her sexual orientation to a supervisor. Amanda Sims alleged in... Read More

WASHINGTON — Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough quashed Democrats’ plans to add a $15 per hour federal minimum wage increase to President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, but some members are not giving up. Democrats are planning to pass the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Department of Labor’s apprenticeship programs benefit individuals seeking to master skills while gainfully employed, and provides employers with the talent needed to fill the current workforce shortage, according to two Congressmen yesterday. Apprenticeships differ from paid internships... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell sharply last week but remained high by historical standards.  Applications for benefits declined 111,000 from the previous week to a seasonally adjusted 730,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced he's picked Kiran Ahuja to be his director of the Office of Personnel Management. If confirmed, Ahuja would be the first South Asian and first Asian American woman to lead the agency.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A congressional subcommittee tried to assess the well-being and mental health of its own workforce Thursday after a year that one of its members described as “like drinking from a firehose while in freefall.” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-N.Y.,... Read More

The National Restaurant Association is urging Congress not to increase the federal minimum wage as part of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. The association said in a letter sent to congressional leaders Tuesday that fast-tracking a minimum... Read More

As panicked Americans cleared supermarkets of toilet paper and food last spring, grocery employees gained recognition as among the most indispensable of the pandemic's front-line workers.A year later, most of those workers are waiting their turn to receive COVID-19 vaccines,... Read More

WASHINGTON – This week, Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., Mark Warner, D-Va., Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Bob Casey, D-Pa., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., introduced the bipartisan, bicameral COVID-19 Mine Worker Protection... Read More

WASHINGTON — The work environment during COVID has demonstrated an increased need for technical expertise in the workforce. A report from the World Economic Forum offers that by 2022 — just next year — half of employees will require significant... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Former Fox News television host Gretchen Carlson advocated during a congressional hearing Thursday against employment arbitration contracts that limit workers’ rights to sue their employers. She said they often force employees into silence about misdeeds of their bosses,... Read More

Public school classes are resuming this week but some teachers in cities nationwide say they might not be there. They are threatening sickouts or strikes because of the risk of COVID-19 infection if they return to in-class education. The United... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Unemployment agencies across the country were bombarded with so many claims during the pandemic that many struggled to distinguish the correct from the criminal. Now, simple tax forms — barely enough to fill a half-sheet of... Read More

The pandemic has exacerbated deep-rooted issues in the structure of jobs. The need to “rethink” the future-of-work to incorporate flexibility and employee needs came to the limelight during a fireside chat between the presidents of two Federal Reserve Banks on... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is accusing SpaceX of stonewalling for information after a job applicant filed a complaint saying the rocket company discriminates against foreign citizens. U.S. attorneys said in a court filing last week that they subpoenaed documents... Read More

WASHINGTON – As part of the first session in the 117th Congress, Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D- Va., and Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, reintroduced legislation to support youth apprenticeship programs in Central Virginia and across the country.  The Strengthening Youth Apprenticeships Act... Read More

WASHINGTON - Antony Blinken, confirmed as America's top diplomat by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, now faces a myriad of problems both within the agency he will now lead and abroad. Confirmed by a 78-22 vote Tuesday afternoon, Blinken is... Read More

WASHINGTON — The number of unemployment claims filed last week fell to 900,000, a number that remains historically high and suggests the economy still has a long way to go before it fully recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. The Labor... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers shed jobs last month for the first time since April, cutting 140,00 positions, clear evidence that the economy is faltering as the viral pandemic tightens its grip on consumers and businesses. At the same time,... Read More

A group of Google engineers and other workers announced Monday they have formed a union, creating a rare foothold for the labor movement in the tech industry. About 225 employees at Google and its parent company Alphabet are the first... Read More

WASHINGTON — Labor law is constantly evolving. Early 2020 alone saw changes to federal overtime rules, 21 states increasing their minimum wage provisions, and the Department of Labor finally allowing H-2B job opportunities to be posted to its website. And... Read More

Applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits unexpectedly jumped to the highest level in three months, suggesting the labor market’s recovery is faltering amid the surge in COVID-19 cases and widening business restrictions. Initial jobless claims in regular state programs rose... Read More

WASHINGTON — This week, the American Worker Holiday Relief Act was introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. “With the economy backsliding as COVID-19... Read More

WASHINGTON - As part of the 10th Annual NewDEAL Leaders Conference held this week, the NewDEAL Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization, released a new education report detailing policy solutions for providing high quality college and career pathways for students... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers scaled back their hiring last month as the viral pandemic accelerated across the country, adding 245,000 jobs, the fewest since April and the fifth straight monthly slowdown. At the same time, the unemployment rate to... Read More

WASHINGTON - Thousands of federal employees can proceed with a class act in which they claim they were forced to work without pay during the 35-day partial government shutdown that extended from late 2018 to early 2019. “The claims brought... Read More

WASHINGTON — Should a federal law that protects National Guard members and reservists from being fired from their private sector jobs while they are deployed also apply to state government jobs? Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court hinted it might weigh in on the issue.... Read More

Ørsted, the Danish renewable energy group, and the North America's Building Trades Unions have entered into a pact to train an offshore wind construction workforce as the firm eyes construction of a series of wind farm projects up and down... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Federal agency executives and senators at a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday showed strong support for continuing telework among government employees even after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. They said telework is bringing down their costs and improving the quality... Read More

Of all the classes of workers who have come to be highlighted as “essential” during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, one group that is often, unfairly overlooked are those who keep the infrastructure of high rise offices and residential buildings functioning... Read More