Archive for January 2015
Employers: Here’s one penalty you’ll want to avoid this tax season
Tax season is looming on the horizon. In addition to fearing audits, there’s another reason for employers to be freaked out this year: the Internal Revenue Service and National Labor Relations Board are cracking down on employers that may have misclassified employees as independent contractors in order to avoid paying taxes. There are several tests…
Read MoreDon’t take credit-report screening advice for granted
It was more than six months ago when craft retailer Michaels was allegedly informed that it needed to move its background check disclosure statement on its job applications. Michaels was allegedly told by consumer reporting agency General Information Services Inc. that it needed to put that disclosure on a separate document, as it was “included…
Read MoreDecember 2014 employment: A strong finish to a good economic year
5.8 percent in November. An estimated 8.7 million people remain unemployed, though the number of unemployed people declined by 383,000 between November and December. The Bureau’s demographic information showed that it was adult women that saw the biggest surge in employment opportunities in December. Employment for the other demographics remained stable compared to previous months.…
Read MoreWill new Pennsylvania background check law take things a step too far?
Starting this month, Pennsylvania schools have some new rules in place to protect children from potential abuse. But some are concerned that the state’s new background check law is inconsistent and leaves school districts to attempt to navigate a tricky situation. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed a law that was a combination of 23 previous…
Read MoreEEOC criminal background checks: Will the government organization be forced to disclose its policies?
In October, we published a post about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s current battles with BMW Manufacturing and Dollar General, in which the two companies requested that the government organization share its own policies for conducting EEOC criminal background checks. The EEOC refused, arguing that its own policies have nothing to do with either of…
Read MoreUber ‘safe ride’ fee getting taken to court
Uber introduced a “safe ride fee” of $1 per ride, intended to go toward improving safety for riders and pedestrians through driver background checks and drug screening. Two California residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against Uber regarding that safe-ride fee. This suit is just one more thing in light of continued problems for the…
Read MoreDon’t put all your eggs in one database when it comes to background checks
In their editorial, Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers and California Rep. Adam B. Schiff stated that all volunteers and potential hires working in these types of positions should be screened through the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. Rogers and Schiff described the FBI fingerprint database as “the most robust criminal background check [system] available” and…
Read MoreNYC considers ban-the-box legislation more stringent than most for employers
In mid-December, the New York City Council introduced a proposal for the city’s own ban-the-box laws, just months after it introduced a bill that would prevent city employers from using credit checks against job candidates. (That bill is still being debated.) Over the previous years, employers in the state have not been able to refuse…
Read MoreSupreme Court: employers do not have to pay employees for preliminary, postliminary job activities
In December, the Supreme Court overturned a previous decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding whether employers are required to pay employees and contractors for the time they spend in security prior to or following their working shift. The Supreme Court stated that employers do not have to compensate employees for their time…
Read MoreImmigration Executive Order brings changes for employers
stated intentions to reduce illegal immigration along the U.S. border, and streamline the legalization process so that long-time resident immigrants will be able to obtain documentation that would allow them to work legally in the United States. The goal of the Order is to “make it easier and faster for high-skilled immigrants, graduates and entrepreneurs…
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