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COURT OVERTURNS FMCSA RULES
The United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has vacated the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) hours-of-service regulations that went into effect January 4, 2004.
The decision sends the hours-of-service regulations back to FMCSA for review.
Under the court's rules of procedure, FMCSA has 45 days to review the decision and decide whether to seek other legal remedies. During that period of time, the current hours-of-service regulations remain in effect.
FMCSA will advise federal authorities and state law enforcement partners of their responsibility to continue enforcement of the current regulations.
The order is the result of a lawsuit filed by Public Citizen, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, and Parents Against Tired Truckers.
We will post any additional information as it becomes available.
There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
Denis Diderot
IWC GONE – WAGE ORDERS STILL HERE
State lawmakers defunded the state’s Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) as part of cost-cutting efforts.The IWC was responsible for determining wages, hours and working conditions of employees in the various occupations, trades and industries through the publication of the 17 IWC wage orders, which contain the instructions for paying non-exempt employees their wages.California employers are still required to post and comply with the wage order(s) appropriate for the business, which is determined based on business purpose. Wage order enforcement remains, as it was in the past, the responsibility of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE).The California Legislature will assume responsibility for IWC’s role, including considering minimum wage increases and meal and lodging credits.
Copies of the current IWC wage orders are available at
www.hrcalifornia.com/wageorders.
Any sufficiently advanced bureaucracy is indistinguishable from molasses.
Unknown
"THIS IS GOING TO BANKRUPT SDI"
Employees in California can now take up to six weeks off to care for a new baby or sick relative and still get 55 percent of their pay under the Paid Family Leave Insurance program (search).
"It is just more humane," said Democratic State Sen. Sheila Kuel (search). "It makes it easier for people to take care of family in a crisis and the employer does not have to pay while you're away."
The state picks up the program's estimated $400 million annual tab.
It's the only program of its kind in the country and business groups say that's because most states realize paid family leave will leave small business in a lurch. "It's an incentive for people to take time off ... unscheduled, extended time off," said Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce (search). "And small business just doesn't have the flexibility to manage people who take long periods of time off from work."
The state is already among the most expensive in the country to do business, said Zaremberg.
"This is going to bankrupt the employees' State Disability Insurance fund. It's going to cause tax increases on individual workers in California and we need to take action. We need to make California a better place to do business."
Kuel said the program has been set up to "try and balance the needs of the workplace and the family place."
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