Professional Webinars and Articles

Commuter benefits –Companies with 50 or more employees must allow workers to exclude public transit and parking costs from taxable income. In effect Jan. 1, 2024.

Pay transparency – Places with 15 or more employees will have to include salary ranges and a description of benefits in all new job postings. In effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Child bereavement leave – Employees working for companies of 250 or more full-time workers can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave if their child dies by suicide or homicide. The leave shortens to six weeks for employees at smaller companies. In effect Jan. 1, 2024.

Paying freelancers on time – The Freelance Worker Protection Act will make companies compensate independent contractors in a timely manner. In effect July 1, 2024.

Temps filling in during strikes – Temporary workers or day laborers must be notified ahead of time if they’re sent to fill in at a business where there’s a strike or work stoppage. They’ll reserve the right to refuse the assignment. In effect Aug. 4, 2023.

The PUMP Act – The PUMP Act for nursing mothers requires organizations to provide time and space for breastfeeding parents. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 already requires that employers provide reasonable time to express breast milk and provide a place for pumping, other than the bathroom, that is shielded from view and private.

Pregnant Workers Fairness Act – The second bill which helps mothers is the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for medical conditions related to pregnancy and childbirth. The law states that employers can’t deny employment opportunities based on these pregnancy accommodations, and they can’t “require employees to take paid or unpaid leave if another reasonable accommodation can be provided.” The law will go into effect on June 27, 2023, and applies to private employers with 15 or more employees.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for their nursing child for one year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk. Employees are entitled to a place to pump at work, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public.

The recruiting landscape is always changing. Candidates need to skill up to stand out. Here are a few tips from veteran recruiter, Lynn Hazan on how to navigate this competitive market.

Are those workers full-fledged employees entitled to the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or are they independent contractors? The answer to this question may change if the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed rule concerning independent contractor classification is adopted.

Illinois Governor Pritzker recently passed a law (reported in Chicago Tribune: August 1, 2019) outlawing employers from asking candidates about their current or past salaries. This ban is effective immediately. The penalty for asking about salaries goes up to $10,000. The new law puts the burden on hiring managers to determine the potential employee’s worth.