American Staffing Association (04/13/12) Anne Duffy

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is seeking public
comments on proposed revisions to its Form I-9, which employers
must use to verify an employee’s identity and to establish
that the employee is eligible to work in the U.S.

According to USCIS, the intent behind the changes is to include
“expanded Form I-9 instructions and a revised layout; new,
optional data fields to collect the employee’s e-mail address
and telephone number; and new data fields to collect the foreign
passport number and country of issuance.”

Because of ambiguity with respect to several proposed language
changes, ASA will submit comments to confirm that staffing firms
can continue to complete the Form I-9 at the time a candidate
consents to be included in the staffing firm’s roster of
temporary employees, irrespective of the time the individual
actually begins work.

Public comments are due May 29. To review the USCIS request for
comments regarding the proposed revisions to the Form I-9, see
the March 27 issue of the
Federal Register.

American Staffing Association (04/13/12) Anne Duffy

The city of Washington, DC, and the state of Oregon recently
enacted laws that prohibit employers and employment agencies from
discriminating against job applicants based on their status as
unemployed. New Jersey had previously enacted such a law, and
similar legislation is pending in Arizona, Illinois, Nebraska,
New York, and Michigan.

The DC Unemployed Discrimination Act of 2012, set to take effect
next week, will prohibit employers and employment agencies from
discriminating against job applicants based on their status as
unemployed and will be the first law to ban the consideration of
an applicant’s unemployment status in adverse hiring
decisions.

The Oregon law took effect March 27. It prohibits employers and
employment agencies from publishing job advertisements that
include language indicating that unemployed individuals should
not apply for the job or that they will not be considered for the
position.

JDSupra (04/12/2012)

Employers must ensure that nonexempt employees under the Fair
Labor Standards Act are properly compensated for all hours
worked, including overtime. They also must be compensated for
time they spend waiting for an assignment, because they are not
free to leave. Time spent at seminars, lectures, and training
programs is compensable if their attendance is required, whether
during or after normal work hours. Nonexempt employees also must
be compensated for off-the-clock time if they begin working
before the regular workday commences, even if the time is not
recorded on the time sheet, and work brought home and e-mails
answered before or after the regular workday are compensable as
well. To avoid violations of overtime requirements, employers
should ensure that nonexempt employees do not perform work
outside their regular work schedule without prior approval.