Employee Rights Blog

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published new guidelines in a compliance manual, regarding religion discrimination in the workplace.

The new guidelines address religion discrimination within the meaning of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII is a landmark, Federal discrimination law that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (gender) or national origin.

Among other things, the new guidelines address the following matters regarding religion discrimination under Title VII.

• What constitutes “religion”
• Disparate treatment of employees based on their religion
• Employer requirement to reasonably accommodate religious beliefs and practices
• Balancing employee rights regarding religious expression with employer needs
• Religion-based harassment and retaliation

To supplement the new religion discrimination guidelines, the EEOC has also published the following.

Questions and Answers: Religious Discrimination in the Workplace
Best Practices for Eradicating Religious Discrimination in the Workplace

Although the EEOC’s new documents are to help employers better comply with Title VII, employees would benefit from reading them too. You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand most of the information.

If you reasonably believe that you’ve suffered religion discrimination by your employer or one of its representatives, then you or your representative, such as your lawyer, may file a discrimination charge with the EEOC. In fact, you or your representative must file a charge with the EEOC, to later file a lawsuit should the EEOC not do so on your behalf.

Lawyers often take discrimination cases on a contingency basis.

Self-Employment Assistance is a special program that helps eligible unemployed workers, including those with disabilities, to attempt to become self-employed while collecting state unemployment benefits.

State unemployment offices are not required to participate in the program, but may do so voluntarily. To date, unemployment offices in the following states were voluntarily participating.

• Delaware
• Maine
• Maryland
• New Jersey
• New York
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania

If you become eligible for unemployment benefits in one of those states (or in a state that participates in the future), then you might also be entitled to receive self-employment help under the program.

For more information, read our new article entitled Self-Employment Assistance.

The new minimum wage amount mandated at the Federal level is $6.55 per hour, an increase of 70 cents over the previous hourly rate of $5.85. The new minimum wage became effective on July 24, 2008.

President George W. Bush authorized the minimum wage increase last year, when he signed the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007.

The 2007 Act amended the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) by increasing the Federal minimum wage in increments of 70 cents per year, starting on the effective date of July 24, 2007 and ending on the same date in 2009.

Subsequently, this is the second of three Federal minimum wage increases authorized under the amended FLSA. The third and final increase of 70 cents will follow on the effective date of July 24, 2009, for a total of $7.25 per hour. It will remain in effect until new legislation changes it.

About the Minimum Wage

The Federal minimum wage is the least hourly amount that employers in all U.S. states must pay to employees who are covered by the FLSA; however, the FLSA has special rules that permit employers to pay a lower hourly base rate, referred to as a subminimum wage, under certain circumstances, such as when employees receive enough in tips to compensate for the difference.

Additionally, states may enact their own minimum wage laws that mandate different hourly rates than does the FLSA. Many states have, while others have simply adopted the FLSA “as is”. Regardless, the FLSA always rules, except where state minimum wage laws are more generous to eligible employees.

To learn more about the minimum wage, including special rules, eligibility requirements and employee rights, see the article “Minimum Wage” (also linked above).

The House of Representatives is considering the Family Leave Insurance Act of 2008 (FLIA) as Bill H.R.5873. If the Act becomes federal law, it will require certain employers to provide paid family and medical leave benefits to eligible employees.

Some sources have indicated that it’s a done deal; but, the U.S. Congress might wait to finalize and pass the FLIA (or a similar act) until after the new administration takes office in 2009.

If and when passed, the FLIA will establish a Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program at the federal and state levels. It will also require employers who are bound by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to join the Program or establish voluntary plans.

Among other requirements, voluntary plans must provide equal or greater employee rights than the Program, and receive the approval of the Secretary of Labor. Smaller employers and self-employed individuals may opt into the Program.

Employee eligibility requirements and benefits under the Family Leave Insurance Act are the same as those under the FMLA, except that employees will be paid for up to 12 weeks while on FMLA leave. Eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave to care for themselves or family members, or up to 26 weeks to care for family members who were seriously injured during active military duty.

As it stands now, pay for each day of an eligible employee’s FMLA leave will be based on the employee’s annual income and calculated as a percentage (%) of his or her daily earnings (DE) as follows.

Employers and employees will share the cost of funding the Program by paying relatively small taxes and premiums based on employee earnings. The insurance under the Program will reimburse employers for paying employees while they are on leave. Employees may use other employer-provided paid sick leave benefits to supplement those provided under the Program.

Because the Family Leave Insurance Act is still under congressional consideration and the regulations have yet to be written, the information in this blog post is subject to change.

Yesterday, General Motors (GM) announced that it plans to cut expenses by a whopping $15 billion, though layoffs, voluntary buyouts, production slowdowns and salary freezes.

Among other cost-cutting measures, GM also plans to suspend its annual stock dividend of $1 per share and reduce health-care benefits for white-collar retirees who are eligible for Medicare.

A few weeks ago, GM announced that it was planning to close production plants in Wisconsin, Ohio, Canada and Mexico, to save $1 billion per year. Yesterday, the automaker indicated that, in addition to its newest cost-cutting measures, it will also accelerate those plant closings.

The struggling automaker finds it necessary to drastically cut expenses, because rising gas prices and a weak U.S. economy have adversely impacted its auto sales, particularly sales of GM pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs).

The world’s largest automaker is not the only automaker feeling the crunch of rising gas prices and the reciprocal shrinking of gas-guzzler sales. For example, Ford recently announced white-collar layoffs for essentially the same reason.

Both automakers depend on sales of pickup trucks and SUVs to compete against smaller, more fuel-efficient imports. The weak U.S. economy has compounded their cash flow problems from rising gas prices, by adversely impacting sales of other GM and Ford vehicles too.

GM anticipates that U.S. auto sales will continue to shrink industry wide in 2008, to their lowest levels in over a decade. The automaker expects the trend to continue into 2009.

If you become unemployed due to a layoff or plant closing, then you might be eligible to collect unemployment benefits from the state unemployment office. You might also be eligible to continue your health insurance coverage under your employer’s group plan, through COBRA. To look for a new job, start at Job Search.