Requirement to Post New Employee Rights Notice Put on Hold 

Employers can hold off on making room for a new poster informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. temporarily blocked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule requiring most private employers to post the new 11-by-17 inch notice, which had been scheduled to take effect on April 30, 2012. The court's decision to block the rule was prompted by two recent lower court decisions that reached conflicting conclusions about whether the NLRB had the authority to issue the notice-posting rule.
 

According to the NLRB, in view of the court's order, and in light of the strong interest in the uniform implementation and administration of agency rules, its regional offices will not implement the NLRA poster rule pending the resolution of the issues before the court.

For further information about the new poster requirement, including a detailed discussion of which employers are covered, please see the NLRB's Frequently Asked Questions. 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released updated Enforcement Guidance on employer use of arrest and conviction records in employment decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).

Title VII and Criminal History Information
While Title VII does not prohibit an employer from requiring applicants or employees to provide criminal history information, there are two ways in which an employer's use of such information may violate the law.

• First, employers may not treat job applicants with the same criminal records differently because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
• Second, employers may not use neutral employment practices to exclude individuals on the basis of criminal history if those practices disproportionately exclude people of a particular race or national origin, unless the employer can show that such exclusion is 'job related and consistent with business necessity' for the position in question.

Updated Enforcement Guidance Explains Key Issues
The Enforcement Guidance consolidates previous EEOC policy statements on this issue, and illustrates how Title VII applies to various scenarios that an employer might encounter when considering the arrest or conviction history of a current or prospective employee. Key topics addressed include:

• How an employer's use of criminal history in making employment decisions might violate the prohibition against employment discrimination under the law;
• The differences between the treatment of arrest records and conviction records;
• Compliance with other federal laws and regulations that restrict and/or prohibit the employment of individuals with certain criminal records; and
• Best practices for employers.

For More Information
To learn more about Title VII and the use of criminal history records in employment decisions, you may review the EEOC's Questions and Answers about the Enforcement Guidance.  

Source:  HR360.com  

Hiring Interns: To Pay or Not to Pay?

Summer internship season is fast approaching and with so many interns eager for work, it can be tempting to allow such individuals to 'volunteer' at your place of business or to pay less than the minimum wage. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that internships in the for-profit private sector are most often considered 'employment' subject to the federal minimum wage and overtime rules.

The Fair Labor Standards Act
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), non-exempt individuals who are 'suffered or permitted' to work must be compensated for the services they perform for an employer. Interns who qualify as employees typically must be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, as well as overtime compensation at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek.

The Test for Unpaid Interns
There are some circumstances under which individuals who participate in for-profit private sector internships or training programs may do so without compensation. This may apply to interns who receive training for their own educational benefit if the training meets certain criteria.

The determination of whether an internship or training program meets this exclusion depends upon all of the facts and circumstances of each such program. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) uses the following six criteria which must be applied when making this determination:

1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;
2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern, and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and
6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

If all of the factors listed above are met, an employment relationship likely does not exist under federal law, and the FLSA's minimum wage and overtime provisions do not apply to the intern. This exclusion from the definition of employment is necessarily quite narrow because the FLSA's definition of 'employ' is very broad.

For a more detailed explanation of the factors used in the test for unpaid interns, please review the DOL Internship Programs Fact Sheet. You may also contact the DOL's Wage and Hour Division, at 1-866-487-9243, for help in determining the employment status of your workers.