According to the guidance released on 20 July, 2020 by the US Department of Labor, it was revealed that employers would continue to treat their salaried executive, administrative, and professional employees who are exempt under the FLSA as exempt. The guidance stated that the status would hold true even if the employees are performing non-exempt duties during the pandemic. The agency further added that COVID-19 is a rare event that had affected the public welfare of the entire nation, which an employer could not reasonably anticipate and is consistent with the FLSA’s regulatory criteria for emergencies.
In a recent announcement by Victoria’s Secret owner, L Brands on Tuesday revealed that it is planning to slash about 15% of its corporate workforce, or about 850 jobs. The company said it planned to save about $400 million annually through various cost-cutting efforts including the layoffs. The announcement also stated that net sales forecast to be down by 20% overall compared with a year ago.
In an internal memo shared by Spirit Airlines revealed its preparation to inform unions that about 20%-30% of workers may be furloughed in October. The memo was shared on Friday and also stated that the airline would be the first low-cost carrier to detail potential job cuts due to the global pandemic. According to the memo shared the workers at a furlough risk include pilots, and flight attendants.
In another development of settlement claims, the parent companies of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods agreed to pay about $31.5 million to settle class action claims. The claims were brought by assistant store managers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York labor law. The managers alleged that they were misclassified as exempt and were denied overtime.
In a recent ruling by Pennsylvania Supreme Court, it was revealed that the driver working with Uber Technologies Inc was the employee under state law and should be entitled to unemployment insurance benefits. The driver who was the ride-hailing service’s employee because the company had total control over his job performances. The court in a 5-2 decision on Friday informed the driver Donald Lowman could not set his own rates or hire others to pick up passengers so he was not self-employed and could not collect unemployment despite working part time for Uber. He worked as a behavioral health specialist.
According to IBM in order to create diversity in the technology field the training for the same should begin with preparing students for STEM careers at an early age. The tech giant announced on 20 July 2020 that it would be offering 1,000 paid internships to students and graduates of its Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools (P-TECH) program. The internship program would run through 31 Dec, 2021.
Schlumberger – oilfield services giant – outlined its plans for deeper spending cuts post recording a $3.7 billion charge and a second straight quarterly loss on thousands of job cuts and a pipeline outage in Ecuador. The plan was announced on Friday. The oilfield services giant has cut about 21,000 jobs – a fifth of its workforce – amid the steep drop in activity during the pandemic.
The US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued optional-use forms for employers coordinating Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave. According to WHD, employers do not need to use these forms, as they could collect the information in any format. As per the agency, the update makes the forms ‘simpler and easier’ for employees, employers, leave administrators and healthcare providers to understand and use.
In an internal announcement made by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it was revealed the organization would not tolerate any bullying amid the colleagues. Zuckerberg in his mail reportedly threatened to fire employees if they were found ‘bullying’ colleagues. The reported threat came in the wake of widespread employee walkouts.
In a blog post shared by LinkedIn’s CEO Ryan Roslansky on 20 July, 2020, it was revealed that LinkedIn is planning to eliminate approximately 960 roles that would be about six percent of the employee base across the Global Sales and Talent Acquisition Organizations. According to the blog, Roslansky revealed that while the organization had added product offerings, however, the company was not immune to the pandemic effects.
Tesla filed a lawsuit against the rival electric vehicle start-up Rivian, alleging the company stole its trade secrets and poached its employees. The lawsuit also named four ex-employees of Tesla – Tami Pascale, Kim Wong, Jessica Siron, and Carrington Bradley. Rivian has denied allegations. Apparently, this is not the first time Tesla had filed a suit against former employee for trade secret thefts or called out an organization for employee poaching.
In a lawsuit filed by a sixteen-year-old alleging that she was subjected to a sexually hostile work environment. Par Ventures, Inc. – a North Carolina corporation operating seven McDonald’s restaurants agreed to pay $12,500 and settle the claim of US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuit. According to EEOC statement the announcement was made that ‘people manager’ at one of the franchisee’s restaurants sexually harassed a 16-year-old employee.
In a recent announcement made by Nike, the plans to bring changes to its executive team were revealed. According to the announcement, Nike informed the changes would lead to a ‘net loss of jobs across the company,’ which would result in pretax. While the spokeswoman denied to reveal the number of jobs that could be affected, she reiterated that it was not a cost-cutting move but a move to invest resources in stronger parts of the business.
According to a statement shared by Indeed with HR Dive, dated 16 July, 2020, the company had informed its employees that they could continue to work from home until July 2021. The statement stated the company’s ‘return to work task force’ might implement partial openings this year, however, no employee would be required to return until July 2021. Paul Wolfe, Indeed SVP of human resources, further informed that considering that the pandemic was still impacting numerous countries across the globe and even numerous states in the US, the company decided that no employee would be required to return to any of the global offices before July 2021.
In a recent incident of settlement claims, transport company SP Plus had agreed to a settle the claims with a former staff attorney, who alleged that the company discriminated against her basis her pregnancy. The former attorney alleged in the court documents that she was discriminated because of her pregnancy and treated her differently from her non-pregnant counterparts. The former staff also alleged that she also received less complex assignments and was given a negative performance review.
In an announcement made by Walmart on Tuesday, it was revealed the company was planning to give a new and third round of special bonuses to its hourly employees during the pandemic. The announcement also stated the stores would be closed on Thanksgiving Day. According to the press release through which the announcement was made, Walmart revealed its plans to spend about $428 million as bonuses to the employees to thank them for relentlessly working during the pandemic. The company would pay the bonuses on 20 Aug, 2020 with full time hourly employees getting about $300 and part-time/temporary workers would get about $150.
According to a report by The Disability Equality Index (DEI), released on 15 July, 2020, the number of companies that scored an 80% and above on DEI more than quadrupled to 205 from 43 in 2015. According to Disability:IN and AAPD about 247 companies had participated in 2020 DEI – thus representing a US workforce of about 11 million people. The top participating industries included financial services, healthcare and technology. PwC, CVS Health, and Dell Technologies were the companies that scored 100% on the index.
In an internal announcement made by Wells Fargo & Co on Tuesday, it was revealed Mike Santomassimo would replace John Shrewsberry as the new chief financial officer. Santomassimo would join the position post the Shrewsberry retirement in the fall. Shrewsberry has had been with the firm for more than two decades and wanted to retire now.
According to a 15 July announcement made by Dropbox and Zoom would be joining an apprenticeship program developed by Slack that would bring formerly incarcerated individuals ‘into highly skilled engineering roles.’ The press release stated it was important that the two companies were involved in the program as it was critical to help advance justice reform. According to the press release, eight apprentices’ programs would begin this year.
A ‘bombshell’ lawsuit filed against Fox News chief national correspondent Ed Henry for sexual violating a woman. The lawsuit also stated that in addition to Henry, plaintiff Cathy Areu was sexually harassed by numerous other men at Fox News including the host Tucker Carlson, journalist Howard Kurtz and network political analyst Gianno Caldwell.
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