A bill in Congress could make it harder for workers to keep employers from getting access to their personal medical and genetic information and raise the financial penalties for those who opt out of workplace wellness programs. House Republicans are proposing legislation aimed at making it easier for companies to gather genetic data from workers and their families, including their children, when they collect it as part of a voluntary wellness program.
Category: Employment / Labor Law
I Don’t Think Many Trump Voters Will Be Moved by this Story as…
I DON’T THINK MANY TRUMP VOTERS WILL BE MOVED BY THIS STORY AS THE NY TIMES INTENDS: ‘A Sense of Dread’ for Civil Servants Shaken by Trump Transition. I’m not so sure Albert Gallatin would be as upset as career GS types.
Senator: VA retaliating against whistleblower
A Wisconsin senator has accused the Department of Veterans of Affairs of firing a doctor for speaking out about alleged shortcomings at a Missouri VA hospital and then thwarting his efforts to get hired at another VA site. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who heads the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, wrote in a recent letter to the VA’s acting secretary the department should “cease all retaliatory actions” against Dr. Dale Klein.
Washington lawyer charged with trying to sell sealed lawsuit
A Washington lawyer from a major law firm was wearing a wig as a disguise when he was arrested last week trying to sell a copy of a secret lawsuit against a California technology security company for $310,000, according to a criminal complaint. Jeffrey Wertkin, a former U.S. Justice Department trial attorney who joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as a partner last year, was charged in the complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco made public on Tuesday.
Judge to decide anti-DoL fiduciary lawsuit next week
A federal judge expects to issue a ruling next week on a lawsuit seeking to stop the implementation of the fiduciary rule. Chief Judge Barbara Lynn told the parties she’ll make a decision on the case no later than Feb. 10, according to court documents filed on Thursday.
New Rules, New Secretary? As Spring Inches Closer, We’re Getting Warmer.
Will the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule go into effect? When will a new Secretary of Labor be confirmed? We don’t have the answers just yet, but a lot has happened over the last few weeks to inch us closer. As things heat up, we wanted to update our readers on all the latest.
New Rules, New Secretary? As Spring Inches Closer, We’re Getting Warmer.
Will the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule go into effect? When will a new Secretary of Labor be confirmed? We don’t have the answers just yet, but a lot has happened over the last few weeks to inch us closer. As things heat up, we wanted to update our readers on all the latest.
Trump bashed the unemployment rate. What happens now that he’s in charge of it?
During the campaign, Donald Trump called the official unemployment rate published by the Labor Department “such a phony number,” “one of the biggest hoaxes in American modern politics,” and “the biggest joke there is.” He variously described the real rate as 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 , 24 , 25, 28, 29, 30 and 35 percent .
How Reporters And Civil Servants Can Thwart Trump’s Anti-Transparency Agenda
On January 24, two anonymous sources at the Environmental Protection Agency told Reuters that the Trump administration had instructed EPA officials to remove the data-heavy climate change page from the agency’s website, and that the page could be taken down as soon as the following day. A public backlash quickly ensued, and the Trump administration at least temporarily backed away from its plan to shut down the website on January 25, as E&E News reported .
3rd Circuit Considers Impact of High Court Decision on ADEA Claims
There is no question that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Serv.
U.S. Supreme Court Decides Retaliation Case
On Jan. 26, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn .
Sen. Tammy Duckworth Slams Jeff Sessions’ Disability Rights Record
A day before Sen. Jeff Sessions’ Senate confirmation hearing to be Donald Trump’s attorney general, newly elected Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Monday expressed concern about his fitness for the post. Duckworth, a veteran who lost her legs in the Iraq War , questioned Trump’s selection of Sessions, when the Americans With Disabilities Act already appears to be under attack.
Donald Trump to throw out Obama administration orders
President Barack Obama and his administration used their control of the U.S. government’s executive branch to set numerous policies that President-elect Donald Trump can reverse when he takes office next month. Here are eight of the Obama administration rules and regulations that Trump has said he’ll scrap or significantly alter when he becomes president.
Trump’s choices shouldn’t be surprising
There has been much hand-wringing in some circles about many of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet selections, people who seem to disdain the very agencies he is asking them to direct. Yet Trump, sometimes criticized for not being a true Republican, is making Cabinet choices that line up well with the party’s rhetoric and stated ideology.
U.S. says Arkansas schools’ ouster of 3 over HIV tests illegal
The Pea Ridge School District violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2013 by excluding some students until they were tested for the human immunodeficiency virus, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice. The district removed three students, all foster children, from its schools on the basis of documents it had received about the HIV status of a family member of those students, according to the letter dated Dec. 13 from Rebecca Bond, chief of the disability rights section of the department’s civil-rights division.