workplace issues

Workplace Advice: My Fair Share

My Fair Share is a cross-post from Working America’s Dear David workplace advice column. David knows you deserve to be treated fairly on the job and he’s available to answer your questions, whether it is co-workers making off-handed comments that you should retire or you feel like your job’s long hours are causing stress. Question: What can you do about not being paid a …

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As New Jobs Return, Employers Slash Wages

New data has shown that while a majority of jobs eliminated during the downturn were in what we describe as the middle range of wages, the great majority of jobs added as the economy improves were low paying jobs, reported Katherine Rampell in the business section of the New York Times on Friday, August 31, …

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11 Scrooge Approved Employee Motivation Ideas You Should Never Use

What is the #1 way to increase motivation in the workplace? Well, we have our pet motivational theories and ideas, but we wanted to explore some of the horrible, terrible, Scrooge-approved ideas that are still floating around in the year 2012. But back to the bad ideas. We gathered some stories from around the internet …

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A Post-Brinker Victory for Employees: Bradley v. Networkers International, LLC

In the aftermath of the California Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court(2012) 53 Cal.4th 1004 (Brinker), employers and non-exempt employees are still hashing out the implications of the clarified meal and rest period requirements.  In April, Bryan Schwartz Law discussed the implications of that case on this blog, which can be found …

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Exploited Filipino Teachers in Louisiana Win Historic Court Decision

  Just in time for yesterday’s celebration of International Migrants Day, a federal court jury ruled on Monday that Universal Placement International of Los Angeles and its owner, Lourdes Navarro, must pay $4.5 million to 350 Filipino teachers who were forced into exploitative contracts. According to the AFT, the Filipino teachers were brought to Louisiana after Hurricane …

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Walmart Tells Workers Who Ask About Unions That Benefits And Vacation ‘Might Go Away’

Walmart staves off unionization attempts in its stores by telling workers who ask about forming a union that they may lose benefits and vacation time, a potential violation of American labor law that could further inflame relations between the company and workers who picketed its stores on Black Friday and have been attempting to organize. Walmart …

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Low-Wage Workers Hit Hardest by Workplace Injuries, Illnesses

It’s a double whammy for low-wage workers when they get hurt or fall ill on the job. First, they lose pay because the vast majority (more than 80%) of low-wage workers do not have any paid sick leave to take time off to recover. Second, not only does the pay check shrink, but because of …

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How “Right to Work Shirk” Laws Kill Jobs – and Hurt All of Us

Michigan’s recent battle makes this a good time to explain the union movement’s important role in our economy’s overall health. We’re about to explain why today’s war on unions is bad for all of us, no matter what we do for a living, and we’ll do it in four steps. But first a word about …

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Women Haven’t Gained A Larger Share Of Corporate Board Seats In Seven Years

In addition to grappling with a persistent pay gap, working women also have to deal with extreme difficulty ascending to powerful corporate positions, according to a report by the research organization Catalyst. As Bryce Covert explained at The Nation: Women held just over 14 percent of executive officer positions at Fortune 500 companies this year and …

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What You Need To Know About The Michigan GOP’s ‘Right-To-Work’ Assault On Workers

On Thursday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) backtrackedon his commitment to avoid so-called “right-to-work” legislation and by the end of the day, both the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan state Senate had introduced and passed separate bills aimed at the state’s union workforce. Michigan Republicans claim the state needs the measure to stay …

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Madeline Messa

Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.