Employee Rights Blog

Labor Day, a national holiday, occurs each year on the first Monday of September. In 2008, Labor Day falls on September 1.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), exactly who founded the Labor Day holiday is unclear.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, General Secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and cofounder of the American Federation of Labor (now the AFL-CIO), was the first to suggest the holiday.

But other records show that it was Machinist Matthew Maguire, Secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York, who founded the holiday.

Regardless, the Central Labor Union established Labor Day. The Central Labor Union was an early trade union organization in New York, Brooklyn and New Jersey. It broke up into local unions that joined what was to become today’s AFL-CIO.

Workers celebrated the first Labor Day in New York City on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. The holiday moved to the first Monday of September in 1884, when the Central Labor Union encouraged unions in other cities to celebrate the “workingmen’s holiday”. In 1885, union workers in many industrial cities across the nation celebrated Labor Day.

By June of 1894, 31 states had enacted legislation to honor workers on the Labor Day holiday. In the same year, Congress passed an act to make the first Monday in September a legal annual holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

For more about the national holiday, see The History of Labor Day from the DOL or conduct a Web search on the keyphrase Labor Day.

For general information about paid holidays, see Holiday Pay - Paid Holidays.

Tropical Storm Fay Disaster Unemployment Assistance is available in Brevard, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, Volusia and Hendry Counties, through the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.

The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation (commonly referred to as the “Florida Unemployment Office”) will qualify more counties for Tropical Storm Fay Disaster Unemployment Assistance, if further damage assessments justify it.

The application deadline in the current counties is September 29, 2008. Where to apply is included below.

If you’re an employee or self-employed individual who has become unemployed, lost income or couldn’t start a new job due to damage directly caused by Tropical Storm Fay, then you might be eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA).

If you’ve become the household breadwinner because the previous breadwinner died as direct result of Tropical Storm Fay, then you too might be eligible for DUA.

To receive Tropical Storm Fay Disaster Unemployment Assistance, among other requirements, you must be ineligible to receive standard state unemployment benefits or the extended unemployment benefits recently authorized. If you are eligible for either standard or extended benefits, then you’d collect those instead of DUA. To determine your final eligibility for any of the benefits, you must apply.

Extended Unemployment Benefits are also referred to as “Emergency Unemployment Compensation,” but the program is not the same as Disaster Unemployment Assistance.

To apply for standard, extended or DUA benefits, you may do so by calling 800-204-2418 (M-F 8 AM to 5 PM EDT) or by filing your claim over the Internet at the Web site of the Florida Unemployment Office. More information about Tropical Storm Fay Disaster Unemployment Assistance is available at the Web site.

Other Tropical Storm Fay Disaster Assistance

To apply for local or state humanitarian disaster assistance, such as food, clothing or shelter, take a valid form of identification to the nearest Disaster Recovery Center. (For recovery information and updates, see the page dedicated to Tropical Storm Fay from the Florida Division of Emergency Management.) The American Red Cross (1-800-733-2767 or 1-800-257-7575 en Español) is also prepared to help you.

If you need Federal disaster assistance (other than DUA) as a result of Tropical Storm Fay, see Apply for Assistance at the Web site of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or call 1-800-621-3362 (TTY 1-800-462-7585).

If you need legal assistance as result of Tropical Storm Fay, local lawyers often volunteer to help disaster victims by charging no fees or only small fees. A free lawyer referral service might help you to find one, as might a Florida legal-aid organization.

If you need a temporary job to get you through, see the blog post Tropical Storm Fay Temporary Cleanup Jobs. To look for other employment, start at the Job Search page.

The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation (commonly referred to as the “Florida Unemployment Office”) plans to create approximately 6,500 Tropical Storm Fay temporary cleanup jobs.

President Bush declared Florida disaster areas due to flooding and other damage caused by Tropical Storm Fay.

Subsequently, Florida Governor Charlie Crist directed the Florida Unemployment Office to submit a National Emergency Grant (NEG) request for $20 million to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

The DOL has granted $8 million so far and will grant more as needed. The Florida Unemployment Office will use the funds to provide humanitarian assistance and create temporary cleanup jobs for an estimated 6,500 local workers.

The temporary workers will help in Tropical Storm Fay disaster recovery, rebuilding and humanitarian efforts, while receiving income to help them and their families get back up on their feet. Locals may apply for the Tropical Storm Fay temporary cleanup jobs at Disaster Recovery Centers.

Tropical Storm Fay Disaster Assistance

Tropical Storm Fay Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) is available through the Florida Unemployment Office. For more information, see the blog post Tropical Storm Fay Disaster Unemployment Assistance, which also includes information about standard state unemployment benefits and the extended unemployment benefits (Emergency Unemployment Compensation Benefits) recently authorized.

To apply for Federal disaster assistance (other than DUA) required as a result of Tropical Storm Fay, see Apply for Assistance at the Web site of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or call 1-800-621-3362 (TTY 1-800-462-7585).

To apply for local and state humanitarian disaster assistance, take a valid form of identification to the nearest Disaster Recovery Center. The American Red Cross (1-800-733-2767 or en Español 1-800-257-7575) is also prepared to help you.

For disaster information and updates, see the page dedicated to Tropical Storm Fay from the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

If you’ve ever wondered why your employer makes you take forced meal breaks without pay, here’s why.

There is no Federal wage and hour law that mandates meal periods for employees, such as dinner and lunch breaks. However, states may enact their own wage and hour laws that do mandate meal periods and other work breaks, as several states have.

In states that mandate meal periods for employees, employers must give meal breaks whether or not employees want them; otherwise, employers face the consequences of violating state wage and hour laws or related regulations.

In the absence of or to expand upon such state laws, collective bargaining agreements may contractually mandate that employers grant meal periods to union-protected employees. If employers don’t give meal breaks as required under union contracts, then those employers face the consequences of breaching their contracts.

In other words, your employer likely doesn’t make you take forced meal breaks just to be mean; it’s more likely that your employer is essentially forced to force you to take meal breaks or suffer the legal consequences.

Of course, your employer can’t make you eat while you’re on a forced meal break. However, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the “main” wage and hour law at the Federal level, your employer may make you stay on the premises while you’re on a forced meal break (unless a state law or your union contract indicates otherwise).

Additionally, the FLSA and equivalent state laws permit your employer to make you take your meal breaks without pay. Employers are required to pay employees only for work time and rest periods, such as bathroom breaks.

If your employer makes you take forced meal breaks without pay, then, under the FLSA and state equivalents, they must be bona fide meal periods, meaning that your employer may not make you work without pay for any part of your meal breaks. In fact, your employer would be wise to refuse to allow you to work even voluntarily without pay during your meal breaks.

For more information about employee meal breaks and laws, and the same for rest breaks as well, read the article Work Breaks and Meals under Work Breaks and Leave. Consult a lawyer for legal advice.

Employee whistleblower protection provisions are included in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which President Bush recently signed into law.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 establishes consumer product safety standards and other safety requirements for toys and other children’s products.

The new whistleblower law in Section 219 of the Act makes it unlawful for employers who manufacture, label, distribute or sell children’s products, to discriminate in any aspect of employment against employees who “blow the whistle” on their employers for violating the Act.

The whistleblower law also makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees because they objected to or refused to participate in any activity, policy, practice or assigned task that the employees believed would violate the Act.

To be protected from such discrimination, employees need only to reasonably believe that their employers (or employer representatives such as supervisory personnel) violated the Act.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is responsible for enforcing the Act at the Federal level, while the attorney general in each state is responsible for enforcing it at the state level. Whistleblowers are protected from discrimination whether they report violations internally to their employers, or externally to the Commission or the relevant state attorney general.

The Secretary of Labor is responsible for enforcing the whistleblower law under the Act. Should employers discriminate against employees who’ve blown the whistle or refused or objected as indicated above, then the employees (or their representatives, such as their attorneys) may file complaints with the Secretary of Labor to seek relief.

Employees must file their discrimination complaints within 180 days, because a statute of limitations applies. If the Secretary does not issue a final decision within the time constraints specified in the whistleblower law, then complainants may go to court to seek relief.

Whether through the Secretary or a court, “relief” includes one or more of the following.

• Job reinstatement with the same status and privileges
• Recovery of back wages
• Compensation for extra damages
• Reimbursement of attorney fees and other legal costs

As with all whistleblower laws, employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees (or their representatives) for filing complaints with the proper authorities or suing in court. Employers are also prohibited from retaliating against employees for testifying in related proceedings.

For more information, see the text of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (soon to become Public Law No: 110-314) and that of the new whistleblower law in Section 219. Consult an attorney for legal advice.