U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced proposed revisions to the Form I-9. Employers must use the Form I-9 to verify the eligibility of employees to legally work in the United States. 

The USCIS also made the draft of the revised Form I-9 available to interested parties and invited public comment. 

The USCIS said key revisions to the form include:

News of job interviewers demanding Facebook passwords from applicants caused a media storm. Top news outlets published numerous reports about job applicants being asked to give their Facebook passwords to hiring managers during job interviews so the potential employer could inspect personal profiles on the applicants’ Facebook pages.

California employers should think twice about engaging in this practice during the recruiting and hiring process.

As discussed in HR Allen’s social media white paper (sign in required), peeking at an applicant’s Facebook page could reveal information to the person conducting the interview that the person is prohibited from asking about, such as religious affiliation or sexual orientation.  

What if the employer learns from the Facebook page that the applicant is pregnant? The employer now opens itself up to a discrimination lawsuit if the employer does not hire the applicant. The applicant may argue that the reason she was not hired was because the employer learned she was pregnant from her Facebook profile and discriminated against her. Further, an individual’s privacy rights under the California Constitutions may be violated.

Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan issued a statement warning that Facebook may take action against employers who demand passwords. “We’ll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers, or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action … ,” Egan said, citing concerns that the demands violate Facebook’s terms of service. 

Two U.S. Senators asked the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether the practice of demanding passwords violates federal laws. See the full letter. 

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a restructuring of its Whistleblower Protection Program. Under the restructuring, the DOL’s Office of the Assistant Secretary will now oversee the program.

The restructuring will significantly elevate priority status for whistleblower enforcement, according to the DOL’s announcement. Emphasizing employees’ rights, the head of OSHA, Assistant Secretary of Labor Dr. David Michaels, stated: “The ability of workers to speak out … without fear of retaliation provides the backbone for some of American workers’ most essential legal protections.”

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Unbeknownst to many, OSHA also enforces 20 other statutes protecting the rights of employees to report various regulatory violations relating to workplaces, commercial vehicles, airlines, the environment, consumer products, food and safety, and consumer financial reform.

OSHA also became responsible for investigating and enforcing laws protecting individuals who complain of corporate securities fraud with the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) in 2002.

Last year, OSHA first announced that it would restructure its whistleblower program as part of a “multifaceted plan” to strengthen enforcement efforts. As part of its plan, DOL requested a budgetary increase of more than $6 million for additional investigators for FY 2012. DOL also released a new edition of its Whistleblower Investigation Manual.

A California court recently rendered a positive decision for employers on an issue that has been unsettled for years. The issue centers on the “good faith personnel action defense.” Under this defense, an employee’s psychiatric injuries that are a result of an employer’s good faith personnel actions are not covered workers’ compensation injuries.

As we all know, there was a big push under federal health care reform for plan sponsors to amend health plans for the 2011 plan year. 

Though 2012 will not be a year of quite so many changes, there is still work to do to ensure you are in compliance with health care reform measures for the year under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

You will need to add these "to dos" to your 2012 PPACA checklist:

A bill that creates a California-mandated leave benefit that differs from federal law will be considered by the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on March 28, 2012.

AB 2039 would significantly expands the type of individuals or circumstances under which employees can take a 12-week, protected leave of absence under California’s Family Rights Act (CFRA) and creates an even further disconnect with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Expands California Law
Currently, CFRA requires an employer with 50 or more employees to allow an employee who worked at least 1,250 hours to take up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period for:

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that the Fraud Tips and Leads Gateway is now available to support state agencies in “detecting, preventing, and recovering improper unemployment insurance payments as well as combating UI fraud.”

The online portal provides state-by-state resources for reporting fraud. It also identifies strategies that DOL uses to help states address improper UI payments.

“Too many people don’t know their responsibilities under the programs, and too many businesses don’t know what’s at stake for them especially the tax implications,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis.

According to the DOL, improper UI benefit payments are most likely to occur when:

Final regulations on summary of benefits and coverage (SBC) are available. Insurers, employers and administrators — pay close attention to these rules because they will apply to open enrollment that begins on or after September 23, 2012.

On August 22, 2011, the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury (the agencies) issued proposed regulations on the requirements for drafting and issuing SBCs and the uniform glossary that is required to be provided by plans as well.  

A summary of those proposed regulations are available here. 

On February 9, 2012, the agencies released final regulations on the requirements for drafting and issuing SBCs and the uniform glossary that is required to be provided by plans as well. The new rules take effect on April 16, 2012.   

The departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (the departments) issued a joint set of frequently asked questions addressing various provisions of the federal health care reform act.

The FAQ (Notice 2012-17) addresses questions relating to the following provisions of the health care reform act (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), including:

On March 6, the Labor Commissioner announced filing two lawsuits against three Los Angeles carwash businesses alleging multiple wage theft violations and seeking more than $2 million in unpaid wages, penalties and damages.

As HRWatchdog reported earlier this week, the state Labor Commissioner is making wage theft prevention a top priority. 

“We will use every tool available to ensure employees pay their workers what is owed for the labor that is provided. Employers cannot be allowed to reap the benefit from the labor of their workers without providing them with at least the basic pay required by law,” said Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su.

And the Labor Commissioner has more tools available than ever before: