Yin and yang (sort of not)

Just as the Department of Labor is about to impose onerous disclosure requirements on attorneys and consultants who advise employers concerning labor relations (previous posts here), the same DoL is easing the disclosure requirements on labor.

Record Keeping App

The Department of Labor has created an i-Phone app that allows employees to enter the hours they work and calculate the wages they are owed, including overtime at time and one half their hourly rate. This will allow employees to keep their own time records. In wage hour litigation well kept employee recortds may be sufficient evidence to overcome any presumption in favor of employer time records if there is a discrepancy.

Unemployment boosts economy says DoL

The Department of Labor (DoL) has released its report on multi-year study on the positive effects of unemployment insurance on the economy. Important findings:

• For every dollar spent on UI, economic activity increases by two dollars.
• During each quarter of the recent recession, UI benefits kept an average of 1.6 million Americans on the job.
• At the height of the recession, UI benefits averted 1.8 million job losses and kept the unemployment rate approximately 1.2 percentage points lower.
• UI benefits reduced the fall in GDP by 18 percent. Nominal GDP was $175 billion higher in 2009 than it would have been without UI benefits. In total, unemployment insurance kept GDP $315 billion higher from the start of the recession through the second quarter of 2010.

Full report is here.

Unpaid internships unlawful?

The New York Times reports the DoL intends stepped up investigation of unpaid internships. Nancy Leppink, Deputy Administrator of the Wage Hour Division of the federal Department of Labor issued a guidance letter concerning workplace training. At page 8 she underscores the criteria for excluding interns from coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act. More after the jump.

Fair and balanced?

A former chief economist for the DoL does a good job of putting in perspective some conservative talking points about the evil that is organized labor.

Unemployment drops to 10%

On a somewhat surprising note the Department of Labor released November unemployment statistics which showed the unemployment rate dropping to 10% from October's 10.2%.

DoL has helpful law summary

The Department of Labor has a a new web site and one helpful resource is an overview of the laws and Executive orders affecting employers which it administers.