Public Policy

Since the demise of the Employee Free Choice Act (or “card check bill”) following the 2010 midterm election, the Obama Administration has increasingly pushed labor-management relations policy through the executive branch. Throughout 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued significant case decisions and substantive regulations.

One of these recent NLRB actions is its election case procedures rule, which was published on Dec. 22, 2011, and is not-so-affectionately known as the “quick election” or “ambush election” rule. The final quick election rule is a narrower version of the proposed rule released in June 2011, but it…

According to the SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report for February 2012, although the pace of job creation at this time last year was higher, the hiring outlook for this February shows that far more companies are expected to hire than lay off. 

  Specific to the manufacturing and service sectors, the LINE Report shows that compared to February 2011, the service-sector hiring in February 2012 will drop by a net of 12.3 points and the manufacturing-sector hiring in February 2012 will drop by a net of 2.5 points. Taking a…

Social media sites Wikipedia and Google held a blackout day on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 to highlight their opposition to the "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA) and the "Protect Intellectual Property Act" (PIPA) bills in Congress. Wikipedia claimed that over 162 million people saw the blackout message on its website. One day later on January 19, the unofficial vote ledger switched from 80 members of Congress supporting SOPA/PIPA and 31 opposing to 65 supporting and 101 opposing it. This was a net loss of 85 votes for the SOPA/PIPA advocates in only one day!   How did this happen? Coordinated advocacy by these major websites leveraged the…

Numerous employment, labor and employee benefit laws regulate the American workplace.  Human resource professionals conduct business daily within this framework. But what if HR professionals helped shape these very laws and regulations?     Given HR’s unique knowledge and experience of implementing these laws within their organizations, wouldn’t their influence make for better HR public policy?  The answer is unequivocally YES, which is why the role of an HR Advocate is so important.   But what does being an HR ADVOCATE entail?  Consider these key elements of the job:   Activism – Engaging…

The Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report found that January 2012 will mark the third consecutive month that hiring activity will decrease, while job cuts increase on an annual basis.

Comparing January 2012 to January 2011, service sector hiring will drop by a net of 15.4 points while manufacturing sector hiring will fall by a net of 4.4 points. Taking…

The Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report predicts that hiring expectations in both the service and manufacturing sectors will decrease slightly compared with a year ago.

Similar to past months, human resource professionals reported continued difficulty with recruiting in November. In the manufacturing sector, a net 13.5 percent of HR managers reported difficulty, compared with 8.3 a year ago. In the service sector, a…

In September, a National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ruled, for the first time, that an employer could legally fire an employee based on Facebook activity. In Karl Knauz Motors, Inc. d/b/a Knauz BMW and Robert Becker, the ALJ okayed a BMW dealership firing an employee who posted pictures (accompanied by some snarky comments) about a neighboring Land Rover dealership. 

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In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king punished by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down.  No matter what he did, Sisyphus could not get to the top of the hill.

We can all feel Sisyphus’ pain as HR and other executives.  We are constantly rolling up against regulatory boulders, plaintiffs’ lawyers and labor unions marketed by the NLRB.

But Sisyphus had it easy in one respect.  He did not have to worry about the FLSA.

We are…

The Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report expects that job growth will be limited in November, as job creation slows and job cuts rise in both the manufacturing and service sectors.

As in previous months, human resource professionals report recruiting difficulty in both sectors; a net of 14.5 percent of manufacturing respondents had increased difficulty with recruiting, an increase of 5.9 points compared to one year ago. A net 7.9 percent of service-sector professionals had more difficulty, an increase of 3.4 points from…

According to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report, hiring will come to a near standstill and compensation will inch up during the month of October. Employers in the manufacturing sector report a virtually unchanged annual hiring rate increase of just around 1 percent while those in the service sector anticipate a year-over-year 10 percent decline.  Both sectors continue to report recruiting difficulty, which may…