Category:Uncategorized
Colorado’s New Employment Regulations Provide More Protections to Employees During the Pandemic
Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards Order (“COMPs Order”) #37 has replaced COMPS Order #36 (2020), which substantially expanded coverage in meals and break requirements, minimum wage and overtime requirements to almost every private employer in Colorado. The changes are designed to provide consistency between minimum wage, overtime and paid sick leave standards under the new Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (“HFWA”). Some changes include increasing Colorado’s minimum wage, making exemptions to COMPs #37 more stringent, and continuing paid sick leave benefits through 2021 due to the pandemic. These new employee-friendly adjustments have been adopted and became effective on January 1, 2021.
Now that Congress Passed the American Rescue Plan, How Can Chicago and Illinois Spend It?
The latest COVID-19 relief package passed on March 11, 2021 by Congress provides a total of $1.9 trillion in mandatory funding, program changes, and tax policies designed to address the enduring economic damage caused by the pandemic. About 15% of the total package will be allocated to states and local governments to tackle budgetary issues associated with the pandemic with very few strings attached. The State of Illinois and the city of Chicago are in the process of assessing the relief package and formulating plans as to how they will allocate the funds.
Dept. of Labor Proposes to Rescind Two Rules It Says Undermine Worker Protections
On March 11, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced plans to rescind two final rules that the Biden Administration said would have significantly weakened protections for workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act(“FLSA”).
Past, Present, and Future of Working From Home
Molly Franklin Associate Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2022 The start of work from home For almost a year now, millions of Americans have been working from home because of the COVID pandemic. When offices told their employees to bring their laptops home with them in March last year, most expected to …
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Securities and Exchange Commission Issues Statement Regarding Climate Change Disclosures
One of President Joe Biden’s promises to America if elected President of the United States was to be more proactive to fix the increasing issue of climate change. Previously, during his tenure as Vice President, in 2010 disclosures were mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that ordered publicly traded companies disclose their climate change related data in their filings to help investors make more informed decisions. More than ten years later, and only a month after President Biden’s inauguration, the SEC released a statement regarding their intentions to revise these disclosure requirements and bring a greater focus to investment decision regarding climate change issues.
Journal of Regulatory Compliance Fifth Annual Symposium
The Loyola Journal of Regulatory Compliance hosted its fifth annual symposium on Friday, March 12th. The symposium, “Labor & Employment Compliance Issues in the Era of Covid-19,” brought together practitioners to reflect on a variety of concerns facing employment professionals as advisor, employer, and client in the pandemic and post-pandemic workplace.
Flaring and the Flagrancy of its Environmental Devastation
William Baker Associate Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2022 The oil and gas industry recently announced plans to end gas flaring by 2030. Flaring involves the controlled release of excess gas from natural gas wells. While this practice is commonplace in the oil and gas industry, it nevertheless harms the environment …
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CDC/ED Guidelines for Reopening Schools: Does This End the Debate?
For almost a year, schools have been reacting to the unprecedented circumstances that Covid-19 has caused. Most of the mitigation efforts thus far have been at the direction of state and local governments. Only recently have federal agencies given clear and substantial guidance on how to get students back into the classroom. Schools have largely fallen into three categories — in-person, remote, or a blended model that involves students doing some classwork at home and some at school. Some schools moved to increase their in-person learning and some have had to retrace their steps when positivity rates were too high, either in the school or in the larger community.
How the Biden Administration will tackle Special Education Failures during COVID-19
The incoming Biden administration includes Dr. Miguel Cardona as the new Secretary of Education. Advocates for students with disabilities recently met with Dr. Cardona to voice concerns about issues ranging from school discipline to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on special education services. In this meeting, Cardona stressed the importance of inclusivity in public schools and the need to promote the rights of people with disabilities, as well as to increase civil rights law enforcement by Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”). Providing a “free appropriate public education” or FAPE during this time came with tremendous costs to budgets and other burdens for school administrators who, in “good faith” tried to meet these standards. However, after the DOE initiated four investigations in the past month over concerns districts nationwide have failed to provide appropriate services to students with disabilities during the coronavirus pandemic. These investigations will be one of the first tasks Dr. Cardona will take on as Secretary of Education.
May it Please the Court: Exploring Facebook’s Oversight Board Formation and Decisions
Last Friday, Facebook’s Oversight Board (“the Board”) issued its latest verdict, overturning the company’s decision to remove a post that moderators alleged violated Facebook’s Violence and Incitement Community Standard. This judgment brings the Board’s total number of decisions to seven, with the Board overturning the Facebook’s own decision in five out of the six substantive rulings it has issued. The Board’s cases have covered several topics so far, including nudity and hate speech. Because Facebook’s Oversight Board does not have any modern equivalents, it is worth exploring what went into this experiment’s formation.