Bloomberg BusinessWeek (04/16/12) Rich Miller
The economy seems more stable this year than it did last year. Company and household balance sheets are stronger, and retail sales are rising. “The recovery seems more broad-based in the U.S.,” says Jonas Prising, president of the Americas at ManpowerGroup. “I see it across industries and I see it across geographies.” Risk also is lower, he notes. “The external environment and the factors that affected it last year are a lot less severe this year.”
Buyers of a business generally expect sellers to be responsible for certain liabilities relating to when the seller owned its business—a concept mergers and acquisitions professionals refer to as indemnification. Indemnification is one of the most heavily negotiated, and potentially most significant, provisions of a purchase agreement, and understanding the terminology common to such agreements is essential when negotiating a deal. Attorney Paul Pincus of Ortoli Rosenstadt LLP explains what sellers are liable for, how a seller’s liability may be limited, and how buyers may seek to fund potential indemnity claims.
MarketWatch (04/17/12) Steve Goldstein
Industrial production was unchanged for the second straight month in March, the U.S. Federal Reserve reported today. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.3% increase. During the first quarter, industrial production rose at an annualized rate of 5.4%.
Are you maximizing your ASA membership benefits? Find out this Thursday, April 19, from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern time, during the ASAPro Webinar “ASA Membership Orientation.” This one-hour Webinar is designed to help ASA member companies learn more about their member benefits. You will learn about professional development opportunities, legal and legislative resources, benchmarking data, marketing tools, and much more.
This ASAPro Webinar is open to new members, and to all members who want to learn more about ASA membership benefits. In addition to the firm key contact, any staff members in your headquarters or branch offices can participate in this Webinar. There is no limit to the number of staff members who can participate—everyone will benefit.
All ASAPro Webinars are free for ASA members. Register online at americanstaffing.net.
Lexology (04/09/12)
The U.S. Department of Justice has reached a settlement agreement with health care staffing firm Onward Health Care over allegedly discriminatory job postings. DOJ alleged that the company’s job postings restricted applications to U.S. citizens, even though work-authorized immigrants should have been permitted to apply for the jobs. The company has agreed to pay $100,000 in civil monetary penalty and to change its internal policies and manuals to reflect the protections of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which generally prohibits companies from discriminating on the basis of citizenship status.
Workforce (04/16/12)
A wage and hour lawsuit filed by contingent workers against PrO Unlimited and staffing client Juniper Networks Holdings International Inc. has been settled. The workers signed employment agreements with PrO and Juniper stating that they were classified as exempt from overtime and were required to track daily work in eight-hour increments, but plaintiffs claimed they regularly worked more than eight hours per day. The suit, which was first filed in July 2011, sought to represent all contingent employees who worked at both PrO and Juniper in California.
Epstein Becker Green
(04/06/2012) Amy J. Traub; Anna A. Cohen; Jennifer A. Goldman
Effective April 3, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission extended its record-keeping requirements to employers covered by Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. GINA applies to employers with 15 or more employees, and Title II seeks to protect job applicants, current and former employees, labor union members, apprentices, and trainees from discrimination based on their genetic information.
When a charge of discrimination has been filed with the EEOC, an employer must preserve all employee records relevant to the charge until “final disposition” of the charge. If a charge is not resolved after investigation and the charging party has received a notice of right to sue, “final disposition” will be considered to be the date of expiration of a 90-day statutory period within which the applicant or employee may bring suit. However, if the applicant, employee, or the EEOC files a lawsuit, the date on which the litigation is terminated is considered the final disposition. Records subject to this requirement may include personnel or employment records, such as application forms or test papers, of the charging party and of all other employees or applicants holding positions similar to the one held or sought by the charging party.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (04/17/12) Marcia Heroux Pounds
Staffing firms in South Florida say technology professionals are receiving multiple job offers in the current market and that programmers, security analysts, and administrators who maintain company databases are in high demand. A survey of more than 1,000 technology workers in the tri-county area by the Boca Raton-based staffing firm ProTech indicates that salary is the prime motivator, and flextime and telecommuting are the biggest perks. The survey shows that the average pay increase for technology professionals was 3.5% in 2011, compared with 2% in 2010. Gary Henning, Robert Half International’s Florida district president, says technology professionals want to be involved in “cutting edge” work, and if employers do not raise salaries, “people are going to entertain other offers.”
Southeast Missourian (04/16/12) Heather Collier
Although Missouri’s unemployment rate hit a four-year low of 7.4% in February, observers say employers are being conservative when it comes to hiring. “They’re trying to get more done with less people,” says Debbie Glenn, regional branch manager of ManpowerGroup. A recent quarterly outlook employment survey by ManpowerGroup found that 18% of employers expect to increase hiring, compared with just 4% planning to downsize. Glenn expects growth in the health care market in particular and notes that few entry-level jobs are available. She adds that more companies are using staffing firms to handle their staffing needs.
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