Senators announce more than $6.5 million in federal funding to help at-risk youth find jobs

CHICAGO U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth today announced that the U.S. Department of Labor awarded six local community colleges and non-profits in Illinois a total of $6,501,644 million through YouthBuild, a job-training and educational program for at-risk youth ages 16 to 24. Through YouthBuild, at-risk youth learn construction skills while constructing or rehabilitating affordable housing for low-income or homeless families in their own communities. Program participants split their time between the construction site and the classroom, where they earn their high school diploma or equivalency degree, learn to be community leaders, and prepare for college and other postsecondary training opportunities.

Sexual orientation Title VII cases work way toward Supreme Court

When the Trump Justice Department last month asserted that civil rights laws don't protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation, it clashed with another part of the administration - the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - which previously claimed that the laws did apply. Federal appeals judges are also at odds.

Despite Unequal Treatment, Black Women Will Rise

Many women's organizations commemorate Equal Pay Day, which this year was April 5. It meant that women, in general, would have had to work all of 2016, and until April 5, 2017, to earn the same amount of money that a White man earned in 2016. Few will recognize July 31, 2017, the day that the pay for African American women catch up to the 2016 earnings of White men-seven extra months.

New health benefits among major K-12 reforms of 2017

A new day in health care is slowly on its way for Washington's K-12 school teachers, classroom aides, part-time bus drivers and even lunchroom workers. The new school insurance program, approved by the Legislature in June, is not going to be a quick fix.

Statement in support of equality and human rights for the LGBTQ community

The American Nurses Association believes that respect for the inherent dignity, worth, unique attributes, and human rights of all individuals is a fundamental principle. ANA's Code of Ethics with Interpretive Statements establishes the ethical standard for the profession to advocate for social justice and human rights, especially for those whose rights may be more easily violated or not fulfilled.

7 Days In 60 Seconds: Healthcare To Trans Troops

It can seem impossible to keep up with all the news these days, so here's what happened this week in a New York minute. Earlier in the week, the Senate opened debate on healthcare legislation, but Republicans failed to pass a bill replacing Obamacare, one simply repealing much of it, and a "skinny repeal" bill.

Poll: Do you think America relies too much on foreign labor?

Businesses will soon be able to apply to bring in up to 15,000 more foreigners for seasonal work, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday - prompting questions about whether the move fit in with the White House's "America First" posture. The Department of Homeland Security's announcement came as the White House kicked off its "Made in America" week, during which the administration is highlighting its efforts to increase domestic employment and investment.

$600,000 award for not accommodating employee’s “Mark of the Beast” beliefs

"A longtime employee of Consol Energy Inc. is entitled to over half a million dollars in damages because of the coal company's failure to accommodate his religious concerns about a handprint scanner, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.[Beverly Butcher Jr.'s] understanding of the biblical Book of Revelation is that the 'Mark of the Beast' brands followers of the Antichrist, allowing the Antichrist to manipulate them. The use of Consol's hand-scanning system, Butcher feared, would result in him being so marked.

Civil rights activists raise alarm over Trump’s DOJ pick

Civil rights and LGBT activists say they are concerned about President Donald Trump's nomination Thursday of Eric Dreiband to head the Justice Department's civil rights division because of his work defending major corporations and others against discrimination lawsuits. Dreiband, a labor attorney in Washington, D.C., who served as general counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under George W. Bush, has represented such companies as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Jarad M. Lucan, Attorney, Shipman & Goodwin LLP to Speak at the…

New York, NY, June 29, 2017 -- -- The Knowledge Group/The Knowledge Congress Live Webcast Series, the leading producer of regulatory focused webcasts, has announced today that Jarad M. Lucan, Attorney, Shipman & Goodwin LLP will speak at the Knowledge Group's webcast entitled: "Is the Grass Greener for NLRB Under Trump Administration? Live Webcast." This event is scheduled for July 13, 2017 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm .

US House passes bill to make it easier to fire VA workers, protect whistle blowers

On Tuesday, U.S. Representative Richard Hudson , the representative of Fort Bragg and author of bipartisan legislation to allow service connected veterans to choose care from private providers in their local communities, released the following statement after the House passed S. 1094, legislation to make it easier to fire Veterans Affairs employees for poor performance or misconduct and to establish whistle blower protections: "I recognize there are many good, hard-working people at our local VA hospitals many of them are veterans themselves. It's the unaccountable bureaucracy that hurts veterans and makes it impossible for them to get the timely care and benefits they deserve.

Labor Secretary Defends OFCCP-EEOC Merger

As previously reported, the Trump Administration's proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 includes a plan to merge the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs into the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . Pragmatically, this would add the OFCCP's broad responsibilities to an already overburdened EEOC, without providing the EEOC any additional funding to accomplish its newly added workload.

Kansas City Tuesday Night Link Look

Dozens of retired teamsters held a rally Tuesday just outside the government agency tasked with overseeing retirement funds. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver joined the rally near Union Station at the Employee Benefits Security Administration Offices to raise the profile of a bill introduced Tuesday by Senator Bernie Sanders and co-sponsored by Missouri Sen. Oak Street, which lines up with the Heart of America Bridge and goes by the federal courthouse, the City Hall and Sprint Center, has seen unending construction over the years.

Republican congressmen send fiery response to HHS

Two influential Republican congressmen are blasting a Department of Health and Human Services memo to division heads as a "potentially illegal and unconstitutional" infringement on whistleblowers' rights to call attention to waste, fraud and abuse in the executive branch. The May 3 memo from HHS Secretary Tom Price's chief of staff, Lance Leggitt, instructed employees not to have "any communications" with members of Congress or their staffs without first consulting the department's assistant secretary for legislation.