Since last June, we have been writing about the much-anticipated new overtime exemption rules. Today, President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez announced the publication of the Department of Labor’s final rule updating the overtime regulations. The Final Rule focuses primarily on updating the salary and compensation levels for Executive, Administrative and Professional workers to be exempt. These workers currently qualify for...
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The Department of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on 3/28/16 that it was making further changes to the Form I-9 in response to public comments that were made during the 60-day period that the proposed changes were listed in the Federal Register. The additional changes are also listed in the Federal Register and will be open for public comment until April 27, 2016. The...
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We’ve been monitoring the issuance of the new Form I-9 as the expiration date of the current Form I-9 approaches on 3/31/16. We have been advised that the Department of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) is waiting on the Office of Management and Budget to approve the new version of the Form I-9. Representatives at the USCIS have indicated that they’re hopeful that...
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Several changes to the operation of Maquiladoras in Mexico. On December 23, 2015, the Miscellaneous Fiscal Amendment (“Miscellaneous Law”) was published in the Official Gazette of the Federal Government in Mexico (“DOF”). Among the highlighted changes is that of extending the term of tax benefits for companies operating in Mexico under a shelter program, as long as they comply with the requirements detailed on the...
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January 7, 2016 On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 (H.R.2029.ENR) which lifts a long-standing ban on the export of crude oil from the United States, effective immediately. The repealed ban will affect energy markets in the United States, Mexico, and other international regions. For example, a study by Rice University, published in March 2015, indicates the repeal of...
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December 23, 2016 We’ve been advising about the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) much-anticipated proposed rule changes that revise the regulations defining the federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s Section 13(a)(1) salary exemptions for supervisors and managers and apply increased salary requirements for overtime exemptions applied to those employees. Here is the latest. The DOL initially anticipated that the “Final Rule” on salary exemptions would be...
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September 9, 2015 On September 7, 2015, President Barack Obama signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to provide up to seven days of paid sick leave per year. The executive order guarantees both full-time and part-time federal contract workers an hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, for a total of up to seven days in a year. The leave includes...
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September 1, 2015 In a significant 3-2 decision involving Browning-Ferris Industries of California, the National Labor Relations Board “refined” (changed) its standard for determining joint-employer status for purposes of representation by a union. The NLRB’s “revised and restated” position on this issue is that two or more entities are “joint employers of a single workforce if (1) they are both employers within the meaning of the...
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June 5, 2015 The U.S. Department of Labor has posted the new model Family Medical Leave Act notices and medical certification forms. One notable change is the reference to the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) that states the following instruction: “Do not provide information about genetic tests, as defined in 29 C.F.R. § 1635.3(f), genetic services, as defined in 29 C.F.R. § 1635.3(e), or the...
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Late last week, the EEOC issued new proposed rules for U.S. employers seeking to implement wellness programs with incentives for their employees. View the EEOC’s proposed regulations. These new proposed rules seek to reconcile two conflicting provisions in the law. The EEOC is seeking public comment on the proposed rules until June 19th. Wellness programs have been around for a long time. These programs are...
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