Reminder – Employers With 10 or More Employees Must Provide Annual CEPA Notice

With an increased budget and additional investigative resources, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced its renewed focus on combating systemic discrimination and its intent to pursue a greater number of large-scale enforcement actions through FY 2012 where it seeks relief for numerous applicants or employees.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced the publication of a proposed rule that will once again revise and seek to improve the H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker program. The H-2B nonimmigrant program permits U.S. employers to hire temporary foreign workers to perform nonagricultural labor/services to meet short-term seasonal or intermittent needs. U.S. employers must demonstrate the unavailability of U.S. workers and show that employment of H-2B workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly situated U.S. workers.

On February 21, 2012, a bill (A2554) was introduced that seeks to require employers to pay their employees for their period of service on jury duty. While current state law prohibits an employer from penalizing employees who miss work because of jury duty, this bill would require employers to pay their employees’ usual compensation for each day the employees are present for jury service, less the amount per diem fee for each day of jury service. This bill was previously introduced in 2010, but failed to advance.