It’s February, our new President has been in office for a few weeks, and I have had a lot of questions from colleagues, friends and the like asking me what the Administration means for employers.

First, I will make the important statement of saying that I am not making an opinion on whether a change in employment regulations is good or bad (meaning, I am not getting into politics).  Second, I will also say that it is simply too soon to tell what will happen.  Third, even though it is too soon, there a number of signs that indicate a dramatic change in employment laws and in the way employment laws are enforced.  Those signs are:
 

·          According the Washington Post, President Obama made it known in July of last year the he had a "serious concern" regarding the Department of Labor’s lack of enforcement of current labor laws.

·          Although not yet confirmed by Congress, The President appointed as Labor Secretary someone who is a huge proponent of labor unions.  Her website states her intentions regarding enforcement, “We also must enforce federal labor laws and strengthen regulations to protect our nation's workers, such as wage and hour laws, and rules regarding overtime pay and pay discrimination.”

·          President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (see below) his second week in office.

·          Three Executive Orders signed on January 30^th have an impact on government contractors specifically: posting requirements, hiring when contracts are taken over from other contractors, and a requirement that contractors not bill the government for anything connected to communicating to employees’ choices on union representation.

·          There are proposed changes to COBRA in the Economic Stimulus Regulation before Congress.

·          There is proposed legislation before Congress titled “Paycheck Fairness Act” that would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to give employees new ways to seek damages for gender-based wage discrimination.  The Act has passed the House, but has not been voted on in the Senate. 

·          As stated in last month’s newsletter, the “Employee Free Choice Act”, which would in essence make it easier for a union to form in a company, has been floating around Congress for a while.  While the Act has yet to be taken up by the new Congress, President Obama did vote for the Act when he was in the Senate. 

I’m pretty sure I missed a few employment matters that have come up over the past few weeks, but cumulatively the above items do send a message.  Life for employers is changing, and having sound HR practices is more important than ever.  More importantly, you really should contact the HR Team to help you meet today’s employment challenges.

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (“Act”), which supersedes the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc., 550 U.S. 618 (2007). Ledbetter had required a compensation discrimination charge to be filed within 180 days of a discriminatory pay-setting decision (or 300 days in jurisdictions that have a local or state law prohibiting the same form of compensation discrimination).

The Act restores the pre-Ledbetter position of the EEOC that each paycheck that delivers discriminatory compensation is a wrong actionable under the federal EEO statutes, regardless of when the discrimination began.

The Act has a retroactive effective date of May 28, 2007, and applies to all claims of discriminatory compensation pending on or after that date.

What does this all mean?  Basically, this Act addresses the statute of limitations for pay discrimination lawsuits and states that it starts each time an employee receives a paycheck that is based on discriminatory compensation.

USCIS Delays Rule Changing List of Documents Acceptable to Verify
Employment Eligibility

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it has delayed by 60 days, until April 3, 2009, the implementation of an interim final rule entitled “Documents Acceptable for Employment Eligibility Verification” published in the Federal Register on Dec. 17, 2008.  The rule streamlines the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) process.

The delay will provide DHS with an opportunity for further consideration of the rule and also allows the public additional time to submit comments.

Delay in E-Verify

Federal contractors and subcontractors will now be required to begin using the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ E-Verify system starting May 21, 2009, to verify their employees’ eligibility to legally work in the United States.   The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council amended the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to reflect this change.

The new rule implements Executive Order 12989, as amended by President George W. Bush on June 6, 2008, directing federal agencies to require that federal contractors agree to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their employees.   The amended Executive Order reinforces the policy, first announced in 1996, that the federal government does business with companies that have a legal workforce. This new rule requires federal contractors to agree, through language inserted into their federal contracts, to use E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all persons hired during a contract term, and to confirm the employment eligibility of federal contractors’ current employees who perform contract services for the federal government within the United States.

Federal contracts awarded and solicitations issued after May 21, 2009 will include a clause committing government contractors to use E-Verify. The same clause will also be required in subcontracts over $3,000 for services or construction. Contracts exempt from this rule include those that are for less than $100,000 and those that are for commercially available off-the-shelf items. Companies awarded a contract with the federal government will be required to enroll in E-Verify within 30 days of the contract award date. They will also need to begin using the E-Verify system to confirm that all of their new hires and their employees directly working on federal contracts are authorized to legally work in the United States.

For an example of great teamwork, think about the 'A-Team'

Remember these words?  "In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. They promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team."

The editors of Fortune say the A-Team was the perfect example of harmony, cooperation, and synchronized effort. These skills can be learned, but it's not easy to do. By watching other great teams closely, you could learn how to be a great team member.

The TV team members had very specific roles in which each was highly skilled and had a well-defined role, which is basic for collaboration. And the team was small. It had four members, slightly below the optimal number of 4.6. Plus the presence of an outside threat (recapture by the government) added to team cohesion.

A person can't get to be a great team member just by willing it so. It takes practice. Great teamwork can't be predicted at the onset. You can only create the conditions for it to flourish.

In Teamwork is an Individual Skill (Berret-Koehler), co-author Christopher Avery says becoming skilled at doing more with others may be the single most important thing you can do to increase your value, regardless of your level of authority.

Can teams succeed and cooperate without incentives? The answer, according to one study, is "yes," under the right conditions.

Participants in the study often cited "group welfare" as their motivation. Now that's teamwork.