The ride-hailing mobile app Uber is desperate to prove it’s nothing more than a technology platform that connects drivers and passengers. As long as it can classify its workers as independent contractors, it can sidestep a whole host of labor and wage laws. But a court ruling issued earlier this week could open the door to change all that.
It’s perhaps not surprising that single parents face a higher risk of living in poverty. However, a new study finds that such risk is much higher for single mothers than for single fathers, even when they both have similar jobs and education levels and work the same number of hours.
Government
Fatal work injury that killed Norberto Romero was preventable, OSHA cites Thomas Concrete
The fatal work-related injuries that killed Norberto Romero could have been prevented had his employer followed worker safety regulations.
Sociologist Jennifer Laird was researching unemployment among Mexican immigrants when she came upon some interesting numbers on black workers in the public sector and employment effects of the Great Recession. It piqued her interest and so she decided to keep digging.
DuPont has filed a litany of excuses to challenge OSHA’s findings about violations related to the November 2014 death of four employees.
Women in the trucking industry face severe sexual harassment, rape and retaliation; advocates call out chemical giant DuPont on their safety consulting business; home health care workers gain new wage protections; and Texas cities take action on living wages.
I’ve been reviewing OSHA’s proposed rule to protect beryllium-exposed workers. In the agency’s 262-page Federal Register notice, I see an Administration that has gone above and beyond when it comes to assessing the proposals costs to employers.
With national school nutrition standards up for reauthorization in Congress, a new survey finds that most Americans support healthier school meals.
Child Labor
Worker database documents 1,073 occupational deaths so far in 2015: ‘Every one of these deaths is preventable’
More than 1,000 U.S. workers have died due to job-related events in the first seven months of 2015, according to new data from the U.S. Worker Fatality Database. Researchers estimate that total fatalities will likely reach 4,500 by the end of the year, which would mean that the nation’s occupational death rate experienced little, if no, improvement over previous years.
Department of Labor
Congressional budget proposals slash OSHA funding, push back on silica exposure standard: ‘These cuts and these riders are unconscionable’
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is no stranger to budget cuts — the agency is already so underfunded that it would take its inspectors nearly a century, on average, to visit every U.S. workplace at least once. In some states, it would take two centuries. Unfortunately, appropriations bills now making their way through Congress don’t bode much better for OSHA.