Cincinnati passes salary history ban

Earlier this month, Cincinnati, Ohio passed Ordinance No 0083-2019. This will make asking job applicants about their salary history or current earnings an illegal discriminatory practice for any company in the city. The new ordinance prohibits Cincinnati employers from screening applicants based on wages, relying on salary history in hiring decisions, or refusing to hire an…

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Survey: Half of workplaces experience violence

About half (48 percent) of surveyed HR professionals said their organization had at some point experienced workplace violence, according to research released by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). “Education has to start from the top down, and often that starts with HR,” said SHRM President and Chief Executive Officer Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP. “There’s…

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A status update on Venezuela requests

Important client update: Due to the recent escalation of the political climate and lack of power and communications in the country of Venezuela, we can no longer provide services in this country. The government has closed all schools and all public and private sector employees are to stay home. Just yesterday, envoys of Venezuelan opposition…

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February 2019 employment: US adds 20,000 jobs

According to ‘The Employment Situation‘ report released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in the United States declined to 3.8%. while the economy added 20,000 jobs, in February. The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 3.8 percent in February, and the number of unemployed persons decreased…

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South Carolina addressing expungement of criminal convictions

South Carolina is the latest state to address expungement of criminal convictions. What does this mean for employers? When expungement requests become part of normal criminal procedure allowing expungement as a right, they will occur in significant numbers. This means that South Carolina records will become fluid, impacting the requirement that a report is “up-to-date”…

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Return of the California disclosure form

After State and Federal courts in 2006 ruled that the California Investigative Consumer Reporting Law, Civil Code §1786 et seq. was declared unconstitutional, CRA’s were free to ignore the requirements of that law. However, towards the end of last year the California Supreme Court upheld the law in Conner v. First Student by un-complicating the…

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Atlanta bans salary history questions during hiring

Atlanta has removed the salary history question on employment applications in an effort to ensure fair hiring practices. Studies have shown that on average, women earn 80 cents for every dollar their male counterpart earns. For women of color, the wage gap is even more disparate. Black women on average earn 62 cents for every…

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Congress considers nationwide bill banning employers from asking salary history questions

The Paycheck Fairness Act is again being introduced in Congress, seeking the prohibition of employers nationwide from asking job applicants about their salary history and requiring employers to prove that pay disparities between men and women are job-related. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., introduced the bill in January. “Despite the enactment of the Equal Pay Act of 1963…

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U.S. employers face significant changes to H-1B lottery process

The changes are significant, employers should take note: An electronic registration requirement for U.S. employers wishing to file H-lB cap subject petition DHS has suspended the electronic registration requirement for this year’s FY2020 H-lB cap. Therefore, U.S. employers who seek to file an H-lB cap-subject petition in this year’s upcoming FY2020 lottery can follow the…

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DHS to hire 1,000 new employees for cyber security team

Office of Personnel Management gave DHS permission to create up to 1,000 new jobs. By granting this authority, the OPM will allow the Department to bypass many of the hiring procedures that the government currently has in place that could delay hiring. The hope is that, by getting staff on board quicker, DHS can get…

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