Archive

From September 18th, employers must start using a new Form I-9 with a revision date of 07/17/17.  As you might guess, the new form was issued on July 17th, by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The new form can be downloaded from the USCIS site, uscis.gov. Employers can and, indeed, must continue using existing storage and retention rules for I-9s, which are also on the USCIS site.  I-9 compliance is a priority for the USCIS, and non-compliance is a…

On September 5th, the Trump administration rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), and announced a six-month process for winding down the program.  Guidance is available from the Department of Homeland Security, dhs.gov, in a number of press releases issued on Sep. 5th. The Obama administration initiated DACA in 2012 for “Dreamers,” children brought into the USA illegally by their parents, allowing them to apply for a two-year, renewable deferred action on deportation and a work permit, called…

The Department of Labor’s 2016 rule increasing the salary threshold for the white-collar exemptions (executive, administrative, and professional) from the wage and hour laws are now history. On August 31st, a U.S. district judge in Sherman ruled against the rule, concluding that the threshold was set so high that duties requirements of the exemptions no longer mattered.  The judge backed off his earlier conclusion that the DoL did  not have the authority to set a salary threshold at all. The…

Happy Labor Day!  As we observe another Labor Day, we see that the job market is good and labor & employment law continues to evolve. The August jobs report was a little disappointing, with fewer jobs created than experts predicted and the unemployment rate ticking up to 4.4%.  Still, that level is still close to what economists call “full employment,” and there are plenty of job openings waiting to be filled. In labor & employment law, the Department of Labor…