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Every month we release an E-newsletter that contains useful information on up to date trends and best practices. We also have an archive of past article located in our "resource center".

 

 

 

Sign up for our Monthly Newsletter here!

 

 

More important articles on the economy and business trends are posted below:

 

 

Three Useful Safety Articles

 

Safety Programs and the Impact to Your Bottom Line.

Is Your Safety Incentive Program Effective?

Creating a Strong Safety Culture. 

Be prepared for OSHA inspections!

Workers Compensation Issues are a National Trend You Should be Aware of!

National Unemployment Rate still an issue with prolonged effects. 

 

 

Know the Rights of Military Employees

Given America's continuing military involvement overseas, the U.S. armed forces have in recent years made greater use of military reservists and National Guard members. This Memorial Day, civilian employers should recall the legal issues concerning the re-employment rights that military service members have when they return from active duty.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act protects any employee who must be absent from civilian employment because of active-duty military service when all of the following apply

  • The employee provides advance notice to the civilian employer.
  • The cumulative length of the employee's military absence does not exceed five years.
  • The employee returns to work within the period prescribed by law or submits a timely application for re-employment.
  • The character of the employee's service does not disqualify him or her from re-employment.

USERRA generally requires employers to reinstate returning service members within two weeks after they apply for re-employment. Returning veterans also generally must be afforded the seniority, status, and pay they would have attained had they remained continuously employed.

USERRA makes clear, however, that its re-employment requirements do not apply if the worker's employment was for a brief, nonrecurrent period, with no reasonable expectation that the employment would have continued indefinitely or for a significant period of time.

Whether a temporary employee is entitled to re-employment with the client with which he or she was previously assigned, therefore, will depend on the nature of the worker's former assignment. If the assignment was reasonably expected to be continuous and for an indefinite period, re-employment with the client would likely be required.

In view of USERRA's strong protections for returning veterans, if an assignment was for a definite period and not continuous, staffing firms still may have to give returning temporary workers priority consideration for future assignments.

Anne Duffy

Courtesy of ASA

 

USCIS Launches I-9 Central Web Site (Courtesy of ASA)

 

 

I-9 Central is free and complements existing Form I-9 resources already available online. You can access I-9 Central at uscis.gov/I-9central.

 

 

 

Senate Approves Repeal of Form 1099 Reporting Requirements

After months of debate and several previous unsuccessful attempts, the U.S. Senate finally approved HR 4, legislation to repeal expanded Form 1099 reporting requirements included in last year's historic health care reform law. President Obama announced he will sign the bill when it reaches his desk.

Current law requires businesses that buy more than $600 in services from a self-employed independent contractor to file a Form 1099 with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The health care reform law passed last year included a provision that would require companies to file a 1099 with the IRS for payments for goods and services totaling more than $600 in a calendar year to a single payee, including corporations.

The provision has been widely criticized by members of both political parties, who claim it is overly burdensome to small businesses. As a result, the issue that concerned congressional leaders was not whether to repeal the 1099 provision, but rather how to replace revenue that the provision was expected to generate.

HR 4 addresses this issue through tax credits in the health care reform law that would provide assistance in the payment of health insurance premiums. In cases where tax credits were overpaid, HR 4 would require recipients to repay a greater share. The White House and some Senate Democrats opposed this approach, claiming that it effectively would result in tax increases for certain middle-class taxpayers. In the end, though, this was not enough of a concern to derail the legislation, which passed both chambers of Congress with veto-proof margins.

When the president signs HR 4 into law, it will mark the first significant change to the health care reform law that was enacted just over one year ago.

Toby Malara

Ban-the-Box Provision of Massachusetts

The ban-the-box provision of Massachusetts' new CORI Reform law became effective November 4, 2010. As most of you are aware, the law prohibits most employers from asking about criminal history on an "initial written job application".

Last month the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), the agency responsible for enforcing the "ban-the-box" provisions of the law, issued a Fact Sheet on how it planned to interpret the new law. While this Fact Sheet is not a regulation itself, it does reflect the opinion of the agency that will enforce the law, and hence it should not be taken lightly.


However, according to a number attorney firms in MA that specialize in employment law, MCAD's interpretations seem to have expanded the original intent of the law, or at least the way the law was written. For example, the statute states that an employer may not ask about criminal history on "its initial written application form." However MCAD is taking the position that a written application or form requesting criminal background information prior to an interview is now part of the 'initial written application.' The actual law states nothing about interviews.


There are two excellent overviews, written by attorney firms, that dissect the MCAD Fact Sheet interpretations:

  

 

 

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