To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
A series of employment-related actions in President Biden’s first 100 days in office signal the likelihood of additional actions and legislative proposals. Employers should expect a decidedly pro-worker tilt.
COVID-19
President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) on March 11, 2021. It includes the following programs impacting employees and former employees:
Expanded unemployment. The APRA extends the following unemployment programs until September 6, 2021: Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (additional $300 weekly payments on top of state unemployment benefits), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (aid to those who exhaust state benefits) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (aid to those traditionally ineligible for unemployment assistance, such as independent contractors and self-employed individuals).
Dive Brief:
Two days before its effective date, the U.S. Department of Labor May 5 withdrew a rule that was set to implement an economic reality test to determine whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor.
The Labor Department had already delayed the rule, which was originally set to take effect 60 days after the Trump administration first published it Jan. 6.
The department said it withdrew the rule because it was inconsistent with the text and purpose of the Fair Labor Standards Act and would have had a confusing and disruptive effect on workers and businesses alike due to its departure from longstanding judicial precedent. DOL said the rule elevated two factors the nature and degree of workers control over their work and the opportunity for profit or loss in its proposed test, a decision that ran against the position of the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeal that no single factor in the analysis is dispositive and that the totality-of-th
STEUBENVILLE Franciscan University of Steubenville will celebrate its largest graduating class during commencement exercises to be held May 14-15. The an
Labor Department reverses Trump-era rule that made it easier for companies to call workers independent contractors By Irina Ivanova Lyft takes on bike-sharing
The U.S. Labor Department on Wednesday rescinded a policy that would have made it easier to classify workers as independent contractors.
The old Independent Contractor Rule was posted in the last days of the Trump administration, and was supposed to take effect in just two days.
The move means the Labor Department will continue to use existing rules under the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act to determine whether a worker should be classified as an independent contractor without traditional wage and employee benefit protections.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Never has the US needed its unemployment insurance (UI) system more than during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before the coronavirus crisis, the worst week for new unemployment claims in American history was in the fall of 1982. That year, the week ending September 18 saw 680,000 people claim benefits for the first time.
Fast-forward to the pandemic: The week ending March 21, 2020, saw
2.9 million first-time unemployment claims, more than four times the previous record. The weekly tally stayed above 1 million for months.
Luckily, the unprecedented surge in demand for unemployment benefits was met with an unprecedented surge in congressional support for the UI system. From March through July 2020, the federal government added an extra $600 to weekly checks for Americans out of work. And while that provision expired, $300 weekly bonuses were eventually brought back first by Donald Trump and again as part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan and