Ohio paid leave bill could be headed to the November ballot -- STATE LAW

May 8, 2008, was the deadline for the Ohio legislature to take up the Ohio Healthy Families Act (H.B. 536), a proposed bill requiring employers with 25 or more employees to provide not less than seven days of paid sick leave annually for full-time employees, but the legislature did not act on bill during the 120-day legislative session. Consequently, the Ohioans for Healthy Families Coalition (OMF), which initially collected the signatures required to submit the Ohio Healthy Families Act to the state legislature, will start collecting the 120,683 certified signatures it needs by August 6 to place the measure on the November ballot. The coalition's website can be found at: http://www.sickdaysohio.org/.
The proposed law would also allow part-time employees a ...

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Tue, 13 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

After Ledbetter bill, Voinovich introduces Fair Pay Act of 2008 -- PROPOSED LEGISLATION

The statute of limitations for filing disparate pay claims under Title VII begins to run when employees "knew or should have known" that they were affected by that decision or practice, according to a bill introduced on April 30, 2008, by Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio).
Called the Fair Pay Act of 2008, the bill, which has since been referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, would amend Title VII to clarify that discriminatory pay decisions or other discriminatory practices occur on the date on which the aggrieved party knew or should have known that s/he was affected by the decision or practice. The bill would then give the employee 180-days from that date (or a 300-days if ...

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Tue, 13 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Labor Department announces enhanced union transparency rules -- FEDERAL NEWS

The US Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would revise current union reporting requirements in order to enhance union financial transparency. The proposed rule, issued under the authority of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), protects the rights of labor union members to have meaningful information about union finances and expenditures, according to the agency.
The proposed rule would revise certain aspects of the Form LM-2, which is filed by about 4,600 unions with annual receipts of at least $250,000. The proposal also implements a longstanding provision of the LMRDA to require unions that ordinarily file a simplified report to instead file the more detailed LM-2 if they violate their legal ...

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Tue, 13 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Colorado guestworker pilot program, E-Verify notification bills sent to the governor -- STATE LAW

On May 5, 2008, the Colorado House of Representatives gave final approval to a bill (H.B. 1325) that would create a five-year nonimmigrant agricultural seasonal worker pilot program for the purpose of expediting recruitment, application and approval of workers through the federal H-2A certification process. The House, which first approved the measure on April 22, considered and concurred on Senate amendments to the bill that would let the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (department) retain local agents to aid in the application process, and with medical screening, travel and documentation of prospective employees returning to their county of origin. The measure has been sent to Governor Bill Ritter (D) for his signature.
Background. The H-2A visa program establishes a ...

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Tue, 13 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT