No Wonder this Job is So Hard: Contradictory Messages From the Government

Being in Human Resources today is no "bed of roses." (For my non-English speaking readers, this idiom means "a comfortable situation". Though I have often wondered since roses also have thorns.) Anyway, I digress. The fact is that being in HR is tough, especially for the compliance side of the house. Part of this difficulty comes from the contradictory messages the Federal government puts out. On the one hand we have laws that prohibit illegal, or in today's parlance "undocumented", aliens from holding jobs in the United States. This the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act for those of you unsure. This law created that form, the I-9, that so many companies screw up on. In addition to that, we have a whole set of laws designed to deal with businesses that do business with the government, aka Federal Contractors, that prohibit any use of illegal labor. These regulations require that federal contractors even verify legal status by using the E-verify system. So you would think the Federal government would be dead set against ANY promotion of illegal workers.

Yet, in this video, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, announces that even if you are "undocumented" you are to be afforded protection of US laws. Some groups are saying she is violating the law. I don't think that technically correct, but the message certainly is contradictory to what other aspects of the Federal Government (USCIS) and the OFCCP (which is part of DOL) say to employers.


By the way, I dicussed the We Can Help site that this video appears on back on April 6th, when I discussed US Department of Labor: It's War! And Employers Are The Enemy . This video shows definatively that We Can Help is not an employer friendly program.

An Aggressive USDOL Means Jobs: Interested?

The "New Sheriff in Town" is hiring. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, in her aggressive campaign against employers is in need of "deputies." You cannot conduct all those enforcement activities without people. So the USDOL is in a big hiring mode. If you have ever considered working for the government and want to apply your HR background this may be an opportunity. The Feds, just like any other employer needs talent, especially management talent (that is an understatement, but we won't go there).

If you are in need of work, can swallow your pride (just kidding) and go over to the "enemy" (your HR friends may never talk to you again) here is the link to DOORS (DOL Online Opportunities Recruitment System) where you can view jobs that are available.

I am not sure what the long term prospects may be, but if you stick around, the Federal Government may be the only organization that will be able to afford to pay pensions.

US Department of Labor: It's War! And Employers Are The Enemy

In a press release issued April 1 (yes April Fools Day, but this is no joke) Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced the release of the "We Can Help Program." If you were a trusting soul you might think this was a program to help employers correct wage and hour mistakes so that workers would be properly compensated. The FLSA is not an easy law to understand and deal with. After all there over 700 pages of regulatory text and over 50 statutory exemptions. So what would be better than a program to help employers to better understand this law. Well if this is what you think then you are the April FOOL.

The "We Can Help Program" is "being spearheaded by the department's Wage and Hour Division, will help connect America's most vulnerable and low-wage workers with the broad array of services offered by the Department of Labor. The campaign will place a special focus on reaching employees in such industries as construction, janitorial work, hotel/motel services, food services and home health care. It also will address such topics as rights in the workplace and how to file a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division to recover wages owed."  (My emphasis.) The AFL-CIO touted this announcement as a war on "wage theft" and Solis reiterated this by saying "If someone is stealing your wages, you can and should call the Department of Labor….We can help, and we will help. If you work in this country, you are protected by our laws. And you can count on the U.S. Department of Labor to see to it that those protections work for you." Employees are going to be "helped" to identify you as a thief and be taught how to report you. Luck you.

 

As further evidence that the USDOL is not going to be a friend of the American employer they have announced, according to Seyfarth Shaw attorney, and former Deputy and Acting Administrator of the USDOL, Alexander J. Passantino, that NO MORE opinion letters will issued. So an employer cannot ask for the USDOL to rule on a position to determine if it is exempt or not. Additionally, another 293 Wage & Hour investigators have been hired and trained and another 90 have been requested. A Chief Enforcement Officer has been appointed to head this effort up.
 
Additionaly actions that have or will occur include:

• Previous investigations will prompt more investigation
• An employers investigation history will be available on the website of the USDOL
• If  you accepted any stimulus money you will be investigated or if you are a subcontractor to someone who accepted stimulur money or is subject to Davis Bacon you will be subject to investigation.
• Information about investigations may be shared with other Federal agencies, such as the IRS and Department of Homeland Security and also with state department of labors.

One of the major outcomes of the second bullet is that personal injury attorneys these days are getting into the Wage & Hour business. They are bringing lawsuits on behalf of employees or ex-employees. They advertize on daytime TV these days. With the records of an investigation against you now being published on the USDOL website they now have identified targets and have been known to seek out your ex-employees or even your current employees. They are even actively soliciting the business when someone calls into them about other lawsuits, according to Seyfarth Shaw attorney, Louisa Johnson.

The USDOL has also announced increased OSHA efforts targeting employers and the NLRB will also step up efforts detrimental to businesses. Both of these issues will be discussed later in the week.

The net result of this new world order is that a BIG  target has been painted on the back of businesses and it is going to require you to be vigilant and proactive.

Tomorrow I will post on some of the Wage & Hour areas you need to pay particular attention to and what you should be looking for and doing with them. In the meantime, please pass this blog post around to other HR folks you know and in particular to any small businesses you know as well. Small business is particulary vunlerable just because they lack HR resources. Until tomorrow.....

Update of Union Activity

With all the talk about Healthcare one would think that no other legislative activity is going on in Washington. Alas, we could not be so lucky. There is still plenty of activity going on. So here is an update on various activities that are taking place.

1. The folks at the Labor Relations Institute published this blog post with a great run down on what is happening with the Employee Free Choice Act. EFCA Update They point out that EFCA has become a shorthand statement for aggressive union tactics and warn of recess appointments of NLRB nominees Becker and Pearce. (They have to be recess appointees because they are so union biased their appointments are being blocked by the Senate.)
2. The folks at CrediblyConnect that Unions Don't Have EFCA (Yet), But Have Won Other Victories That Make It Easier to Organize Employees . These include changes in the rules that had required Unions to reveal how and where they spent their members money. Secretary Solis made changes that now allow the Unions to not disclose their finances.
3. @OhioLaborLawyer on Twitter pointed out that unions are not happy with some Democrats and plan to punish them at the polls. Read Unions taking on Dems who don't toe labor line that was published in The Hill.
4. Attorney Eric B. Meyer linked to an article in S.C. Politics Today about South Carolina taking the bull by the horns and protecting the state from EFCA legislation in  Secret union ballots gets OK in Senate.
5. Lastly, also from The Hill, we have Police, firefighter unions see chance to expand collective bargaining rights which discusses in roads, outside of EFCA, that public safety unions are making.

Regardless if you are currently dealing with unions or not you need to read this stuff. With changes at the Department of Labor, the NLRB, and in legislation  you may at some point soon be dealing with union activity. And the more preparation and information you have the better off you will be.

Update on Hilda Solis

A report in the Los Angeles Times indicates that the reason Solis' nomination is being held up is her membership in American Rights at Work, a tax-exempt group dedicated to helping workers unionize. Her membership in this group, and her continued work on behalf of the EFCA, may violate House ethics rules on lobbying or assisting lobbying. Causing some additional concern was the fact that she didn't report this membership in House documents. The White House called this an "unintentional oversight." (Hmmm, that sounds vaguely familiar.) So the wrangling over the nomination goes on. You can read the article by clicking the link above.

In the meantime, President Obama has named Ed Hugler, a career Labor employee and the deputy assistant secretary for operations, to serve as acting secretary, as reported in The Hill.