On the heels of Mike’s talk to the North Carolina Legislature’s Joint Study Committee on Work and Family Balance, the Center for American Progress has published an excellent new report, “The Three Faces of Work-Family Conflict.”  The paper describes how the typical workplace today is deeply out of sync with today’s workforce because of dramatic changes over the past few decades in incomes, working hours, and patterns of family care.  Moreover, our employment laws have failed to keep up with these changes, and offer little support or protection for working families.  The report calls for:

• Short-term and extended leaves from work, including paid time off for family and medical leave and paid sick days.
• Workplace flexibility to allow families to plan their work lives and their family lives.
• High-quality and affordable childcare so that breadwinners can concentrate on work at work, and
• Freedom from discrimination based on family responsibilities.

Check out the full report or the executive summary for more details.

Categories: General News Tags: Childcare, Family Responsibility Discrimination, FMLA, Labor and Employment, Paid Leave, Work and Family Balance

The NPR program Fresh Air broadcast a story on January 11 titled “Wounded in Wars, Civilian Face Care Battle At Home.”  It is based on the reporting on T. Christian Miller and his series of articles, “Disposable Army.”  The story discusses what happens to military contractors who are injured while working abroad, and the incredible difficulties they face trying to obtain workers’ compensation under the Defense Base Act.   Definitely worth checking out.

Categories: General News Tags: Contractors, Defense Base Act, Military, NPR, Workers' Compensation

One part of the President’s stimulus package early this year provided a 65% subsidy for COBRA health insurance benefits.  The subsidy, however, only lasts nine months, so it expiring for many people soon.  Unfortunately, Congress has failed to extend the benefit yet, though it may still do so early next year.  This NY Times article has very useful advice for workers about to lose the subsidized benefits.

Categories: General News Tags: COBRA, Congress, Health Insurance, Labor and Employment, President

The new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that both workers and health care professionals are often pressured not to report workplace injurues.  The GAO surveyed more than 1,000 occupational health practitioners and found (1) more than two-thirds observed worker fear for reporting an injury or illness, (2) a third said they were pressured by employers to provide insufficient treatments to workers to hide or downplay work-related injuries or illnesses, and (3) more than half of practitioners said they were pressured by an employer to downplay an injury or illness so it wouldn’t be reported on an official log.  Full report available here.  Coverage here.

Categories: General News Tags: OSHA, Retaliation, Workers' Compensation, Workplace Safety

In the current debate about health care reform, we hear a renewed call by medical and insurance lobbyists, politicians, and media pundits for “malpractice reform.”  These ardent reformers do not seek to reduce medical malpractice or improve patient safety.  Instead they seek to block access to the courts for the families of patients who have been injured or killed by medical errors.

A woman in Charlotte recently responded to this misguided campaign.  In an op-ed article published in the Charlotte Observer, Laurie Sanders explained why she has a special interest in the subject:

Read more…

Categories: General News Tags: Burton Craige, Defensive Medicine, Medical Malpractice, Personal Injuries, Tort Reform

The Senate on Monday voted 72-to-16 to confirm Judge Andre M. Davis to a seat on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Judge Davis has been a judge since 1987, and a federal trial judge since 1995.  He was first nominated to the Fourth Circuit by President Clinton in 2000, wasn’t confirmed then, and was renominated by President Obama in April.

Judge Davis fills the first of what had been five vacancies on the Fourth Circuit.  Two judges from North Carolina, Judge Jim Wynn of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and Judge Albert Diaz on the North Carolina Business Court, were nominated to the Fourth Circuit last week.  Their nominations are pending.

Categories: General News Tags: Fourth Circuit, North Carolina, President Obama, Senate

Despite employers’ continual complaints that workers’ compensation costs too much, North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin has approved a nearly 10 percent decrease in workers’ compensation insurance policy rates.  This demonstrates that a good workers’ compensation system, such as North Carolina’s, can both fairly compensate injured workers and be affordable for companies.

Categories: General News Tags: Insurance Rates, North Carolina, Workers' Compensation

A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights the trend of more retaliation cases being filed with the EEOC, and likely the courts.  In addition to retaliation claims that are filed with the EEOC (i.e. retaliation related to race, sex, disability, etc. discrimination), many other federal laws have anti-retaliation provisins (such as the Fair Labor Standards Act), as do several North Carolina laws (most importantly, the Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act).  As shown in the graphs in the article, more discrimination claims overall are also being filed in these times of greater layoffs.

Categories: General News Tags: EEOC, Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA, Labor and Employment, REDA, Retaliation, Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act

A bunch of the new laws passed by the North Carolina legislature earlier this year go into effect today. The News and Observer highlights a few, including the statute of repose law that helps consumers injured by defective products. The N&O also has a more complete list of laws going into effect here.

Categories: General News Tags: NC Legislature, News and Observer, Personal Injuries, Products Liability

Family-Friendly Workplaces: Do Unions Make a Difference?, written by Jennifer MacGillvary of the Labor Center at the University of California-Berkeley and Netsy Firestein of the Labor Project for Working Families, concludes the unions lead to workplaces that, through policy and practice, promote a healthy and viable balance between work life and home life.   Significantly, the study finds that unions increase compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act, ensure paid sick leave for employees and their children, and increase the likelihood that health care is covered for families.

Categories: General News Tags: Family and Medical Leave Act, FMLA, Health Care, Labor and Employment, Study, Union