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Advocates for workplace health and safety to observe Worker Memorial Day today
Today is Worker Memorial Day, a day to honor workers who have died on the job. The recent construction accidents in Raleigh are stark reminders of why this day matters. Worker advocates will gather at...
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North Carolina poised to limit exposés of workplace problems
One of the ALEC bills that is making the rounds across the country is so-called “ag gag” legislation, designed to prevent animal rights groups from conducting undercover operations to film abuses of...
View ArticleNew report highlights growing misclassification problem
A report released this week by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), (In)dependent Contractor Misclassification, lifts up the parade of horribles that goes along with this increasingly common method of...
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A day’s work should mean a day’s pay
“A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”: This old saying used to have real meaning in the American economy. Sadly, in recent years, it has been proven untrue over and over again – especially in North...
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Children continue to work in NC fields
Although agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupations in the U.S., federal and North Carolina law continue to allow the employment of minors in farmwork. This week, Human Rights Watch issued a...
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Another tool for local governments to combat wage theft
Our neighbors in the Midwest had a big victory earlier this year when Cincinnati passed an innovative ordinance aimed at reducing wage theft. Recognizing the devastating impact of this common problem...
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OSHA actions, OSHA inactions
The US Department of Labor announced yesterday that information about injuries and illnesses suffered by employees in certain high hazard industries will now be made publicly available, analogizing...
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GAO finds hazardous conditions in poultry, meatpacking continue
The General Accounting Office (GAO) publicly released a report yesterday on workplace health and safety conditions in the poultry industry. While noting a decline in injury and illness rates from...
View ArticleInternational visitors work in North Carolina, nationally through J-1 program
If you have traveled to the Outer Banks recently, chances are you have been waited on by an international student. Stores, restaurants, and hotels on the North Carolina coast are increasingly turning...
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Provision added to regulatory reform bill would undermine farmworker unions
As has been common with bills drafted by this General Assembly, the title of HB593 does not adequately describe its contents. The “Act to Amend Certain Environmental, Natural Resources, and 3 Other...
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Obama administration rules for homecare workers upheld; time for NC to get on...
Source: Workers' Rights ProjectSource: Workers’ Rights Project If there were a contest to identify the most neglected group of workers in modern North Carolina, the folks commonly referred to as...
View ArticleNorth Carolina takes step forward in addressing worker misclassification
Workers in North Carolina received some welcome news last week – the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the NC Industrial Commission and the U.S. Department of Labor that should make it...
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NC Department of Commerce found to violate Civil Rights Act
A multi-year investigation launched after a complaint was filed by Legal Aid of North Carolina, the North Carolina Justice Center, and Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont found the North Carolina...
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ALEC-inspired proposal lets franchisors escape responsibility, puts onus on...
In another twist in the ongoing saga of the special legislative session, the first section of the General Assembly’s so-called Regulatory Reform Act (HB3) deals a blow to restaurant and other...
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Report: NC employers stealing $316 million per year from employees; Labor...
A bedrock principle of private property is that stealing is wrong. Yet the problem of employers refusing to pay their workers the wages they’ve earned—or wage theft—is pervasive and growing in North...
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A rare bit of good news for North Carolina workers
North Carolina’s state government took an important first step this week toward recognizing and addressing the problem of misclassification, which occurs when employers wrongly classify employees as...
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Worst-of-all-worlds immigration bill would harm foreign and U.S. workers
Just when you thought U.S. immigration policy couldn’t get any crueler or more dysfunctional, along come the conservative Republicans in the congressional “Freedom Caucus” to take things to a new low....
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Underpaid au pair workers settle lawsuit for $65.5 million
Childcare workers who earn less than the minimum wage had a big win this month with the settlement of a lawsuit against 15 companies who recruited so-called au pairs from around the world. The former...
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Trump administration moves to curb health and safety rules for workers
President Donald Trump (Credit: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons) The Trump Administration launched its latest attack on working people yesterday, repealing a 2016 rule requiring large employers to...
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Attorney General moves to limit anti-worker “no poaching” agreements
Attorney General Josh Stein North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein took an important step forward in protecting both businesses and workers this week by announcing a new multi-state settlement that...
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Trump administration rule change would stymie workers’ suits against employers
“The Future of Work.” It sounds so promising, with its emphasis on flexibility, app-based employment, and following your passion. Some of that future is here now, and it’s not living up to the...
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Trump administration rolls back labor protections
The Trump Administration this week made good on its promise to roll back its Department of Labor’s stance regarding protections for employees who work for more than one company. Formally adopting its...
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Veteran attorney explains rights of people heading back to work and hoping to...
My workplace is reopening, but I’m afraid conditions there are unsafe. What can I do? The North Carolina Division of Employment Security will consider that you have good cause not to return to work,...
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Report: “50 reasons the Trump administration is bad for workers”
Intimidating local health departments on behalf of the meat-packing industry. Excluding millions of workers from paid leave. Pushing for lower wages for migrant workers. These are just three of the 50...
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Farmworkers’ wages threatened by Trump administration’s inaction
The middle of a pandemic is a particularly challenging time for low-wage workers to take a pay cut, but the 205,000 farmworkers across the country could face that dire situation next year. The U.S....
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