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woman receiving a vaccine

Status of Vaccine Incentives to Workers

| July 2021
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued updated guidance in late May indicating that employers can offer bonuses and other incentives to encourage employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine.  However, if employers ask disability-related screening questions as part of the pre-vaccination process, employers must keep such worker vacci...
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Relaxed CDC Guidance Requires Employers to Set the Rules

| July 2021
In May, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued new guidance that fully vaccinated people "can resume activities without wearing any mask or standing six feet apart, except where required by federal, state, local or territorial laws, rules and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance."  The CDC requirements define those who h...
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a line of people waiting on employment

Do High Welfare Benefits Promote Unemployment?

| June 2021
Numerous employers and some studies suggest that many employees prefer government aid to a regular paycheck. Employers would agree that lower skilled workers are scarce right now and many jobs remain unfilled. Multiple sources indicate that some workers are turning down offers in lower wage occupations because their stimulus checks and jobless benefits pa...
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Tax Credit for Employers Who Give Employees Paid Leave for Covid Vaccination and Recovery

| June 2021
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) allows small and mid-size employers, and certain governmental employers, to claim refundable tax credits that reimburse them for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave to their employees due to COVID-19, including leave taken by employees to receive or recover from COVID-19 vaccinations. The ARP tax cre...
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Employers Must Find and Tell Laid-off Employees of Health Subsidies

| June 2021
Before May 31, 2021, employers must notify certain former employees that they may be entitled to free health care coverage under recent federal legislation. The new law provides fully subsidized coverage through COBRA from April 1 through September 30, 2021 for employees who were laid off or lost their job-based health coverage due to reduced hours during...
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amazon logo on a mobile samsung device

How the Union Analyzed Its Loss at Amazon

| June 2021
The 71% to 29% loss by the union campaign at Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama, is the most well-publicized and significant union election of the decade. The union brought in outside groups to show their strength and solidarity, including churches, the NFL Players' Association, Black Lives Matter organizers, and national celebrities including Senator Bernie San...
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Biden Orders Creation of Pro-union Task Force

| June 2021
In May, President Biden signed an executive order creating a task force to promote labor organizing as part of a push to strengthen unions. According to the White House, the Order will direct the task force to promote new ways of using the federal government's policies to encourage workers to organize and successfully bargain with employers. It will be le...
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cancelled broadcast stream

Favorable Trump Independent Contractor Rule Canceled by Biden

| June 2021
The Trump Administration issued a federal regulation making it easier for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors. While the Trump regulation listed five factors for consideration, the two given the far greatest weight were the nature and degree of the worker's control over the work, and the worker's opportunity for profit or loss based ...
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Venezuela

TPS Status Added for Burma and Venezuela

| June 2021
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allows nationals of a foreign country to live and work in the U.S. because of conflict or disaster preventing their safe return to their home country. In March, the Department of Homeland Security made the announcement allowing Venezuelans and Burmese to be granted TPS, and extending the status for Syrian nationals living ...
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Biden Uses Executive Authority to Raise Minimum Wage to $15 for Government Contractors

| June 2021
President Biden campaigned on a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 by 2026. He first tried to carry out this campaign promise as part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, but the Senate parliamentarian ruled that raising the federal minimum wage does not meet requirements to pass the bill by a majority vote (without the opportunity for a filibust...
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Reporting Deadline for EEO-1 Coming up Fast

| May 2021
After a brief hiatus due to the COVID-19 health emergency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is reminding covered businesses that they must report EEO-1 Component 1 data for both 2019 and 2020 by July 19, 2021. The portal for data collection and submission will open April 26, 2021.  
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