Trump wants to expand religious exemptions. Critics say the law doesn’t allow it. Joe Davidson
Replay Video UP NEXT Protests are mounting against far-reaching Trump administration policies that could foster discrimination in the name of religious liberty in a variety of federal programs. Rather than protecting religious freedom, opponents fear three sets of policies will inappropriately allow faith-based organizations liberty to discriminate. Faith organizations are allowed a certain level of religious bias not permitted elsewhere. Secular employers may not deny employment or services based on a person’s religion. But under the Supreme Court’s “ministerial exception” a Baptist church, for example, can’t be forced to hire a rabbi or an imam to preach Sunday sermons.
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email No New Locality Pay Areas in 2022
The president’s pay agent declined to authorize a number of recommended changes to existing locality pay areas, overruling a federal advisory board.
The Trump administration last week rejected the recommendations of a federal advisory council on employee compensation to add locations to the list of locality pay areas despite not meeting all the criteria for inclusion in the program that accounts for the increased labor costs of high cost-of-living regions.
Last year, the Federal Salary Council unanimously recommended that Wayne County, Pa., be included as part of the existing New York-Newark, N.Y.-N.J.-Conn.-Pa. locality pay area, despite the fact that it failed to meet the minimum number of General Schedule employees required for consideration due to federal agencies’ inability to attract job applicants.
Wave of Attempted Fraud Hits State Unemployment Claims Programs | Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide hellenicshippingnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hellenicshippingnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Updated Dec. 22, 2020 3:13 pm ET
A wave of attempted fraud is hitting state unemployment benefits programs after they struggled to process record-high claims from layoffs during the economic turbulence triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
States across the country including California, Louisiana, Illinois, Maryland and others have collectively received millions of unemployment insurance requests that officials believe to be tied to fraud, with losses likely in the billions of dollars.
More than $500 billion in regular and pandemic-related unemployment aid has been distributed so far, according to Treasury Department data. And more is coming, including a new round of enhanced benefits worth $300 a week included in a pandemic stimulus package passed by Congress.
AAFP Demands Fair Physician Pay, Patient Protection
AAFP Demands Fair Physician Pay, Patient Protection
December 17, 2020, 4:47 pm News Staff Vaccinating Americans against COVID-19 while the pandemic continues to surge will be the most demanding and complex public health undertaking in the country’s history, and AAFP members remain at the leading edge of the work.
Behind the lines, the Academy is also working to make sure that the daunting financial and administrative challenges accompanying this critical push don’t further imperil family physician practices already under the wheels of a public health emergency stretching into an 11th month.
Specifically, the AAFP this week delivered extensive, sometimes forceful comments to federal regulators on a wide-ranging interim final rule on coverage and payment requirements for COVID-19 vaccines, including Medicaid provisions. The Academy advocated for coverage of COVID-19 vaccines without cost-sharing and sharply objected to