Posts Tagged ‘Penalties’
An ICE Storm in July
The recent announcement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should have gotten the attention of employers. It illustrates how seriously ICE is in carrying out its commitment to increase the number of I-9 audits in an effort to create a culture of compliance among employers. In a press release issued last week, ICE shared…
Read MoreICE Age: Raids are Expanding
Since the Trump administration took office, a significant focus has been placed on enforcement of immigration laws by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Acting ICE director Tom Homan advised in 2017 that immigration raids were likely to quintuple in 2018, with both undocumented workers and the places that employ them as targets. That was…
Read More“Ban The Box” Makes Hiring Fairer for Job Applicants with Criminal Records, but More Complex For Businesses [Update]
Applying for a job can be an arduous task these days. It can be made more stressful for job applicants with criminal records. Research affirms that a conviction record reduces the likelihood of a job callback or offer by nearly 50%, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP). It also can be stressful for…
Read MoreU.S. DOL to Pilot Self-Audit Program for Compensation Violations [UPDATED]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has officially launched its new pilot program to facilitate resolution of potential overtime and minimum wage violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The focus of the pilot program is to encourage employers to conduct self-audits to improve their compliance with overtime and minimum wage obligations, and to…
Read MoreShould Your Company Participate in the ICE IMAGE Program?
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has stepped up its efforts to raid U.S. employers who hire undocumented workers. The results of these raids can be potential criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers in addition to prosecution of the workers themselves as well as bad media coverage. However, ICE is also promoting…
Read MoreU.S. Department of Labor Raises Civil Penalties for Regulatory Violations
The U.S. Department of Labor has published its new civil penalties for 2018. The new penalties reflect a 2% increase in civil penalties for those employers who violate the DOL rules, including for minimum wage and overtime, child labor laws, family and medical leave, construction contracts, and foreign workers. The increase is part of a…
Read MoreNew North Carolina Law Reminder to Avoid Worker Misclassification
On December 31, 2017, the North Carolina Employee Fair Classification Act (EFCA) took effect. The new law allows for heightened investigations into those employers that are allegedly misclassifying their workers as independent contractors rather than as employees. The law allows workers to report potential job misclassification cases to a new division within the North Carolina…
Read MoreWill E-Verify Become Mandatory for Employers?
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering legislation that would make E-Verify mandatory for employers. The Legal Workforce Act would require employers to use E-Verify, the electronic database to verify employment eligibility of workers, to check the eligibility of job applicants to work in the U.S. before they are hired. Currently, most employers are not…
Read MoreTracking Time and Attendance: A Business Intelligence and Regulatory Imperative
As misclassification suits arise from ill-defined job descriptions in the gig economy, how employees utilize their workdays is also becoming an issue. Who is managing and tracking how workers spend their time on the job? A new survey indicates that managers seem to be leaving that task to employees. Employee tracking software company TSheets conducted…
Read MoreNew York City’s ‘Freelance Isn’t Free’ Act May Start A Trend
For those independent contractors and gig economy aficionados with New York City-based clients, the “Freelance Isn’t Free” Act was a godsend. In May, the Act was passed in New York City thanks to a council member in NYC’s borough of Brooklyn. In a nutshell, the Act states that if a freelancer is contracted by a…
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