bbcuk--2019-02-08--Sir Philip Green paid employee 1m over harassment claims

Sir Philip Green 'paid employee £1m over harassment claims'

Sir Philip Green paid a female employee more than £1m to keep quiet after she accused him of kissing and groping her, the Daily Telegraph has reported.  The paper said the senior female employee was one of five members of staff who signed gagging orders after being bullied or harassed.  It reported a black male executive also received £1m after Sir Philip said he was "throwing spears in the jungle".  Lawyers representing Sir Philip told the Telegraph that he was a "passionate businessman, who can at times be over-exuberant and hot-headed" and that he could be "perceived at times as aggressive with senior and trusted staff".  Sir Philip's lawyers added: "It is further denied that any of Sir Philip's conduct towards employees amounted to any type of crime, or anything that would amount to gross misconduct, or a serious risk to health and safety."  The billionaire had previously used an injunction to stop the paper from publishing the allegations.  Sir Philip is alleged to have told the female employee who received £1m that she was a "naughty girl" and made comments about her weight in front of other staff.  Two other employees were paid hundreds of thousands of pounds, the Telegraph said. It did not say how much the fifth employee received.  The paper added that all five staff had accepted the money in return for signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), preventing them from talking about their experiences.  The Telegraph's report included testimony from other members of staff that it says witnessed the events.  The paper fought a six-month legal battle against the billionaire, whose legal action against the paper was formally ended by a High Court judge.  Sir Philip said the action was now "pointless" after he was named in Parliament as the businessman behind the injunction.  He said the Daily Telegraph had pursued a "vendetta" against him.


bbcuk--2019-11-12--UK wage growth slows as unemployment falls

UK wage growth slowed down in the three months to September, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).  Unemployment dropped by 23,000 to 1.31 million over the same period, while the number of people in work also fell.  Average earnings excluding bonuses increased by 3.6%, compared with 3.8% growth in the previous month.  The figures also showed the biggest annual drop in the number of job vacancies in nearly 10 years.  The ninth consecutive monthly fall in available jobs saw advertised positions fall by 18,000 to 800,000.  There were 32,75 million people in work during the three-month period, a fall of 58,000. It was the biggest drop since May 2015, when the total fell by 65,000.  The ONS said this was down to falling numbers of people working in retail, after the collapse of several store chains and the implementation of shop closure programmes by other firms.  Average weekly pay, in real terms before tax, was £470.  "The employment rate is higher than a year ago, though broadly unchanged in recent months. Vacancies have seen their biggest annual fall since late 2009, but remain high by historical standards," said an ONS spokesperson.  "The number of EU nationals in work was very little changed on the year, with almost all the growth in overseas workers coming from non-EU nationals."  It comes after last week's news that the UK's economy had grown at the slowest annual rate in almost a decade. • Bank split on rates as it warns Brexit deal would hit growth  Samuel Tombs, economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the figures were likely to mean interest rates would stay unchanged for the foreseeable future.  "The pace of weakening in the labour market remains gradual enough for the Monetary Policy Committee to hold back from cutting bank rate over the coming months," he said.  IHS Markit economist Chris Williamson said the falling numbers of working people and job vacancies showed data "was falling into line with earlier warning signs of a weakening labour market from the surveys".  He added: "Recruitment agencies reported that the demand for permanent staff at employers had grown at the joint slowest rate for a decade in October, as uncertainty and worries about the outlook reduced firms' appetite to take on extra employees."  Andrew Wishart, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "Overall, the figures appear to illustrate that demand for labour is easing, but no sharp downturn, which is a relief following disappointing GDP growth in the third quarter."  Tej Parikh, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, warned that wage growth could continue to slow down.  "The pick-up in wage growth earlier this year has been a plus, but there is clearly a limit to how high pay packets can go. With many firms facing elevated costs and difficulties raising their productivity game, the margins to raise pay are eroding. A further acceleration in wages now looks unlikely," he said.


birminghammail--2019-03-22--Ethnic minorities in Birmingham twice as likely to be unemployed as white people

Ethnic minorities are twice as likely to be unemployed as white people in Birmingham.  New analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics has revealed that just 4.9% of white people in Birmingham were unemployed in the 12 months to September 2018.  In comparison, 9.8% of black and minority ethnic (BME) people were unemployed.  That is a rate that’s two times higher.  The figure rose to 10.5% of people from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds.  Experts say that the ethnic unemployment gap is likely caused by several different factors - including prejudice and racial discrimination.  Rebecca Hilsenrath, Chief Executive at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “It is very disappointing to see that the unemployment rate for ethnic minorities is still so much higher than for white people.  “The UK is such a diverse society and our workplaces would benefit from reflecting that.  “High unemployment rates can be a result of a number of issues including differences in educational attainment.  “We also know, though, that prejudice and racial discrimination in recruitment processes are a challenge.  “The government must continue to monitor access to work for these groups and identify and address what causes the differences between employment rates so that there is real equality of opportunity in the workplace.  “Bringing in mandatory reporting by ethnicity on staff recruitment, retention and promotion would be an important first step in helping employers shine a spotlight on the issue and provide the necessary insight to tackle underlying causes of inequality.”  The situation has also seen little improvement over the last 14 years.  Since the 12 months to September 2005, BME people in Birmingham have generally been around twice as likely to be unemployed as white people - if not more so.  The gap peaked in the 12 months to September 2006, when BME people were 3.3 times more likely to be unemployed, and hit a low in the 12 months to September 2010, when they were 1.7 times more likely to be without work.  The gap in Birmingham reflects the national average.  Across the UK, just 3.7% of white people were unemployed compared to 7.3% of BME people - again twice as many.  In October 2017, the government published and have continued to update a Race Disparity Audit, which aims to examine how people of different backgrounds are treated across areas including health, education, employment and the criminal justice system.  The government say that BME employment is at the highest level on record - but clearly this has done little to close the gap.  Employment minister Alok Sharma said: "I am pleased that under this government the ethnic minority employment rate is at a record high, delivering opportunities to more people regardless of background.  “But there is much more to do.  "The whole purpose of the Race Disparity Audit was to get us to face difficult, and sometimes uncomfortable, issues.  “Where there were differences in representation, participation or achievement across ethnic minorities, we have been challenged to explain them, or change them.  “Earlier this year we published a report detailing just some of the programmes underway to tackle employment inequality, ranging from pre-ESOL support, sessions for women from under-represented groups and interventions for young people involved in or on the edges of gang violence.  “In addition, we will shortly roll out a nationwide mentoring initiative, designed to help jobseekers build their networks and get the careers they want.”


birminghammail--2019-08-08--Wolverhampton food companys expansion plan will mean employing on more staff

Wolverhampton food company's expansion plan will mean employing on more staff

A family-run catering company in Wolverhampton wants to expand its large existing operation even further by creating new offices.  Middleton Food Products Ltd, based in Willenhall Road, wants to create the two-storey office block in preparation for planned future expansions of the business.  The site where the new offices are set to be based currently houses a cash and carry, food production, packing and storage area.  Middleton Recycling was also previously situated on the site until a purpose built facility was created on the adjacent Noose Lane, which will allow for the expansion of the food business.  The food operation has grown considerably over the last 30 years and sees the company sending products to caterers across the country, including providing batter for award-winning fish and chip shops.  Bosses said the offices would be used to accommodate extra staff they expect to take on as the operation expands.  In their application to the City of Wolverhampton Council, managing director John Gwilt said: "Middleton moved onto the site in February 1988 with the relocation of the cash and carry business with three 7.5 tonne trucks and staff of about seven.  "They now employ 36 full-time staff and 12 part-time and operate with a fleet of nine 12 tonne trucks and seven 7.5 tonne trucks servicing the catering industry throughout the Midlands.  "Middleton Recycling moved onto the site a short time later and then Middleton Food Products Ltd, which was first registered in 1990 and formed to produce dry powder products for the catering industry.  "From a small operation, it now employs 97 permanent staff and between 25 to 40 agency staff distributing both nationally and internationally with customers of the likes of Ramsdens, Iceland Foods, Brake, Aldi and Wetherspoons.  "Five of the last eight shops that won Fish and Chips of the Year were users of Middleton branded products.  "Middleton Recycling has now moved off this site and into a purpose built factory to accommodate the expansion of Middleton Food Products Ltd.  "We therefore need to develop more office space to accommodate the extra staff we anticipate taking on."


birminghammail--2019-12-04--The laws around tipping in the UK - and when employees could be banned from taking them

Christmas is just around the corner and bars and restaurants are gearing up for the most festive and busiest time of the year.  It is definitely the ‘season to be jolly’ and many of us will be flocking to Christmas parties, work functions and catching up with friends.  Whilst it may be the time for giving, we’re still unsure of the right etiquette when it comes to tipping.  Are we legally obliged to do so?  Does that money actually go to the staff or is it kept by the business owner?  And as an employee, what does the law say about paying tax on the tips you receive?  Thomas Pertaia from DAS Law has the answers on tipping in the UK…  Do I *have* to tip?  There is no legal obligation to tip, so if you decide to offer a tip it is at your discretion.  Some establishments will state that there will be an obligatory tip; for example, when the number in your party goes over a certain threshold, paying the tip forms part of the contract that you are agreeing to with the restaurant.  OK. If I *am* going to tip, how much?  The standard tip in the UK is around 10%, but tipping is not an absolute expectation in most establishments.  I have seen that there is an increase in the number of restaurants that have a ‘suggested tip’ amount included on the bill. Do I have to pay this or can I change it?  There is no obligation to pay a suggested tip and no obligation to comply with the suggested tip. Feel free to deviate from the suggestion if you feel that the service does not warrant the amount suggested.  Am I allowed to refuse to pay a tip at all?  As already mentioned, because there is no legal oblation to pay a tip, you can make the decision as to whether to tip or not.  As an employee, do I legally have to report all tips I receive to HMRC?  Tax is payable on tips and would have to be reported to HMRC. However, whether you are responsible or the employer is responsible will depend on the way tips are paid to you.  If you get tips directly from a customer, you will be responsible to pay tax and if you fill in a Self-Assessment tax return, you have to include the tips on it. If you don’t fill out a tax return then HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will estimate your tips based on information from you or your employer.  If your employer pays the tips directly to you, they are responsible for making sure Income Tax is paid through PAYE.  Where I work we pool our tips and share them equally. I make considerably more tips that my colleagues and don’t want to participate in the scheme – can I refuse and keep my own tips?  How the tips are handled will generally be decided by the employer. There may be an agreement in place where a person other than the employer (called tronc master), is responsible for making arrangements to share tips amongst employees. In these circumstances, it is the tronc master who decides how the tips are shared.  Participation is not compulsory and you will have to check with the employer if there are alternatives available in relation to possible retention of tips.  Am I allowed to insist as an employer that employees disclose their tips?  As an employer, you can request that the employees disclose the tips paid to them during their employment with you.  Whilst it may not be best practice or advisable, employers are within their rights to prohibit employees from accepting tips.  What’s the law on tipping in the UK?  The law around tipping is rather vague, with no specific legislation in place. However, what is clear and enshrined in law is that tips cannot be used to meet national minimum wage obligations of the employer, meaning that if they are paid, then they need to be paid in addition to the National Minimum Wage.  There have been discussions about reform in this area and the introduction of legislation, but this has not materialised yet.  The Government has a Code of Practice (National minimum wage: code of best practice on service charges, tips, gratuities and cover charges) on how employers should handle tips. However, the code is voluntary and there is no obligation on an employer to follow it, but if an employer wants to operate a ‘best practice’ business they would be advised to comply with the code of practice.


bonginoreport--2019-12-21--Georgia’s Unemployment Reaches Lowest Level Since Records Kept

ATLANTA, GA - Georgia's unemployment rate fell to 3.3 percent in November - the lowest in decades since record keeping began in 1976.  The state also set a jobs record last month – 4.64 million jobs – while the number of employed Georgians also hit an all-time high of 4.96 million.  "I can't recall us ever having a better month," Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler told Capital Beat News Service. "It's nice to see this at the end of the year. I think we are going to continue to see Georgia move in the right direction."  Gov. Brian Kemp said the strong numbers are a sign the conservative agenda he and his Republican allies in the General Assembly have embraced is working.  "To keep Georgia the best place to live, work and raise a family, we must support our small businesses, recruit projects of regional significance to our rural communities and dismantle criminal street gangs so our families are safe from harm," he told the Capital Beat News Service.  Georgia added 6,500 jobs last month, up 69,000 from the same month last year.  The most jobs were added in three areas - trade, transportation, utilities - with 3,200 jobs. Education and health services came close with was close with 3,100 jobs. The construction sector added 2,300 jobs.  "We have seen the labor force start growing again, but it's still not where I want it to be," Butler told the Capital News Service. "We need more individuals in the workforce to take all the jobs we have open."  Georgia's unemployment rate last month was slightly below the nation's, which fell 0.1 percent to 3.5 percent.


birminghammail--2019-12-23--Workers face Universal Credit Christmas pay cut if employers break this one rule

Universal Credit and other benefits can cause big worries for claimants over the Christmas holidays.  There are always extra costs at this time of year - including higher energy bills, festive food and drink, gifts for family and other loved ones.  On top of all that, variations with payment dates can cause concern and confusion.  Universal Credit replaces six existing benefits and is paid to those who are in work on a low income as well as people who are unemployed.  But some claimants could be left with no money if their bosses don’t stick to the official guidance on paying wages at this time of year.  The problem arises when claimants are paid early because of the Christmas holidays. That shows as two wages in one month, which then means Universal Credit payments are cut.  Claimants are allowed to earn £287 a month if they get help with housing costs, or £503 a month if they don’t get that help.  Every amount earned above those levels is subject to deductions of 63p in every £1.  Above a certain level of income, the DWP stops paying Universal Credit altogether. That means claimants have to start all over again with claiming the benefit once their income goes down to normal levels.  In its latest Employer Bulletin, HM Revenue and Customs gives guidance for company bosses on reporting PAYE information.  It is reminding employers not to log early wage payments on the day but to record them on the day they would originally have been paid if Christmas holidays hadn’t got in the way. That prevents it looking like people have been paid twice in a month.  The advice says: "In December 2018, we wrote to employers to advise a temporary easement on reporting PAYE information in real time, as we know some employers pay their employees earlier than usual over the Christmas period.  "This can be for a number of reasons, for example during the Christmas period the business may close, meaning workers need to be paid earlier than normal.  "Following feedback from employers and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we have received approval to make this easement permanent.  "If you do pay early over the Christmas period, please report your normal (or contractual) payday as the payment date on your Full Payment Submission (FPS) and ensure that the FPS is submitted on or before this date.  "For example: if you pay on Friday 20 December 2019 but the normal/contractual payment date is Tuesday 31 December 2019, please report the payment date on the FPS as 31 December and ensure the submission is sent on or before 31 December.  "Doing this will help to protect your employees’ eligibility for Universal Credit, as reporting the payday as the payment date may affect current and future entitlements.  "The overriding PAYE reporting obligation for employers is unaffected by this announcement and remains that you must report payments on or before the date the employee is paid, i.e. payday."  The issue has also been highlighted by Advice NI, an independent advice network in Northern Ireland, but it is also affecting claimants in England and Wales.  Advice NI has expressed concerns about "a flaw in the Universal Credit (UC) system whereby claimants may be treated as receiving two monthly wages in one assessment period, resulting in a dramatically reduced or even nil Universal Credit award.”  Bob Stronge, Advice NI Chief Executive said: “Government says that it’s all about work, making work pay and that Universal Credit will help make sure people are better off in work. However we are highlighting a fundamental flaw which could inflict hardship on claimants and undermine public confidence in Universal Credit.  "For example if someone receives their monthly wage on the last Friday of each month then they will have been paid on Friday 29th November and ought to be paid on Friday 27th December. However many people will be paid early for Christmas, some as early as Friday 20th December.  "Universal Credit assessment periods run for a calendar month, so for example if a UC claimant has an assessment period which runs from 25th to the 24th, they will in fact find that they have received 2 monthly wages in this assessment period (29th November & 20th December) and so may receive little or no Universal Credit at Christmas.  "Whilst there may be months with no wage packet and other months with one wage packet which will lead to an increased Universal Credit award, Advice NI believes this issue will undoubtedly lead to claimants having a lack of certainty about finances and will undoubtedly cause distress and hardship for some at Christmas."  Advice NI says it is concerned that neither employers nor employees are fully aware of the HMRC’s latest advice on reporting staff pay.  Universal Credit - 7 things you need to know Universal Credit is the biggest change to the welfare system in a generation. But what exactly is it and how does the system work? Here's all you need to below. Follow the links below to find out more. Universal Credit is a new social security benefit that was approved in the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and first appeared in 2013. By the end of 2018, it was rolled out to all jobcentres. It replaces six existing benefits, now known as 'legacy benefits'. Find out more by clicking on the link above. 2. Universal Credit calculator - how much you will get The amount you are given is calculated according to various factors. The Government says if you have children, a disability, or you need help paying for your rent, you may be entitled to extra amounts on top of the standard allowance. Find out more by clicking on the link above. 3. Universal Credit eligibility and how to apply Among the qualifying criteria, you must be on a low income or out of work. And it's important to bear in mind your partner’s income and savings will be taken into account, even if they themselves are not applying for the benefit. Find out more about eligibility by clicking on the link above. 4. How often is it paid and how the online account works To get Universal Credit, TWO accounts are needed. One is a Universal Credit online account where your details (such as the date of the next payment) are available to look at, the other is a payment account at a bank or building society where the Government pays in your money. Find out more by clicking on the link above. 5. Universal Credit contact numbers if you need help There are some special helpline numbers to call if you want assistance. They have been changed to freephone numbers so there is no charge for calling. Find out more by clicking on the link above. 6. How to change your payments if you're struggling Claimants need to be aware the first payment doesn't come through until five weeks after a claim - and then every month after that. If you're not used to waiting a whole month for your payment, it can prove difficult. But there is a little-known way around that. Find out more by clicking on the link above 7. What to do if your Universal Credit payments are cut There are occasions where the Department for Work and Pensions imposes sanctions on claimants if they appear to have broken the rules, for instance by not showing up at jobcentre appointments. In such cases, Universal Credit can be cut or stopped altogether. Find out what to do by clicking the link above.  Universal Credit officials in Northern Ireland said it was not a flaw in the system, with a Department for Communities spokesman saying: “Where two sets of earnings are received in one month a customer will receive less benefit to reflect this.  "However customers will then receive an increase in Universal Credit in those months where no earnings are received.  "This is not a system flaw and is part of the design and build of Universal Credit.”  BirminghamLive asked the Department for Work and Pensions - which is responsible for Universal Credit in England and Wales - about the issue.  A DWP spokesman told us: "Assessment periods are fixed at the point of when a person makes a claim, and if two months’ wages are paid in the same period then either the previous Universal Credit payment or the next one will be higher to reflect this."


breaking911--2019-12-13--WATCH: CEO Surprises 100 Employees With $10 Million In Bonuses! (Average Bonus Was $50K)

Employees of a large commercial real estate firm received a life-changing surprise when they were gifted $10 million in bonuses at their company holiday party. Ed St. John, founder of St. John’s Properties in Baltimore, Maryland, and company president Lawrence Maykrantz, gave out 198 bonus checks to their employees during the festivities.


breitbart--2019-09-06--Black Unemployment Hits Record Low Black-White Unemployment Gap Shrinks to Smallest Ever

Black Unemployment Hits Record Low, Black-White Unemployment Gap Shrinks to Smallest Ever

One result: the persistent gap between white and black unemployment also narrowed to its smallest on record.  The unemployment ratio has averaged around 2 to 1 or so for decades, meaning the black unemployment rate is typically twice the white unemployment rate.  In good times, the unemployment rate of whites and blacks falls but the gap remains. And in bad times, the unemployment rate for whites and black rises, but black unemployment typically remains around twice that of white employment.  A year ago, the black unemployment rate stood at 6.6 percent while the white unemployment rate was 3.4 percent, meaning black unemployment was 185 percent of white unemployment.  In August, the gap narrowed so that black unemployment was under 162 percent of white unemployment. That is the smallest gap ever in records going back to January 1972.  This is particularly remarkable because it comes at a time of remarkably low unemployment. Prior to the Trump era, the last time the gap fell below 170 percent was in August of 2009, when the black unemployment rate was 14.8 percent and the white unemployment rate was 8.9 percent. Back then the gap declined because white unemployment was increasing at a faster clip than the already sky-high black unemployment.  In other words, the decline in employment inequality now is undeniably the best on record because it comes in the context of falling unemployment.


breitbart--2019-09-06--The US Economy Created 130000 Jobs in August Wage Growth Accelerated Unemployment 37

The U.S. Economy Created 130,000 Jobs in August, Wage Growth Accelerated, Unemployment 3.7%

Economists had expected the economy to between 150,000 and 180,000 with the median consensus at 163,000, according to Econoday. Unemployment was expected to remain unchanged. Last month’s jobs figure was originally reported at 164,000, now revised down to 159,000, and unemployment was 3.7 percent.  Although the headline number was weaker than expected, wage growth was strong in August. Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 11 cents to $28.11, or 0.4 percent, following 9-cent gains in both June and July. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.2 percent. In August, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 11 cents to $23.59.  Unemployment among African Americans fell to 5.5 percent, the lowest level on record.  The labor force participation rate edged up to 63.2 percent in August, indicating that the strong labor market has continued to draw Americans into the workforce.  The largest job gains came from professional and business services, which added 37,000.  Census hiring boosted the federal government’s hiring to 28,000 workers. Health care added 24,000 to the total while financial services increased by 15,000.  There were little to no gains in August for construction, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and leisure and hospitality. Holding the line on manufacturing jobs is a sign of strength given signs that manufacturing activity fell this summer.  The retail sector shed 11,ooo jobs, with department stores losing 15,000 jobs (partially offset by gains in other retail venues). Over the year, so-called “general merchandise” retails jobs have fallen by 80,000.  While the economy continued to grow in the second and third quarter, it has slowed from the rapid 3.1 percent rate of growth in the first three months of the year. Manufacturing appears to have contracted and business investment has been weak, with surveys indicating that uncertainty around trade policy and global economic weakness have become a drag on the U.S.  Consumer spending and the labor market have been strong. Data released Thursday showed worker compensation rising strongly and well-above inflation. Rising labor costs can promote capital investment by businesses seeking to make workers more productive.   With unemployment near 50-year lows, job growth has slowed and many businesses say they are having trouble hiring. Employment growth has averaged 158,000 per month thus far this year, compared with an average monthly gain of 223,000 in 2018.


breitbart--2019-09-22--Sen Mike Lees America Indian Firm in Chicago Paid Employees India-level Wages Took Jobs from US

Sen. Mike Lee's America: Indian Firm in Chicago Paid Employees India-level Wages, Took Jobs from U.S. Graduates

The fraud exploited loopholes in the B1 visas, which are reserved for managers and trainees according to a press statement by the Department of Homeland Security.  The announcement comes as Silicon Valley investors, the high-tech industry, and GOP Sen. Mike Lee are pressuring GOP Sen. David Perdue to let them pass a pro-Indian bill through the Senate via a “unanimous consent” vote. The bill, S.386, dangles the huge prize of valuable green-cards to millions of Indian graduates if they take middle-class jobs from college-graduate Americas.  The vote could come as early as Tuesday.  Lee S.386’s bill would offer up to 140,000 green cards each year — up from roughly 20,000 now — to Indian graduates who accept low wages while taking middle-class jobs from American software developers, doctors, therapists, designers, accountants, engineers, and managers.  There is no limit on the number of Indian graduates who can take U.S. jobs while they compete for the green cards because there is no cap on H-1B visas, L-visas or OPT work permits. Already, roughly 1 million Indian college-graduates are working in U.S. jobs.  Lee’s proposed green-cards-for-cheap-labor deal would be a huge boon for the Indian government.  Lee’s deal would also aid U.S. investors — FWD.us, for example — by cutting their labor costs — and it would push the U.S. graduate class closer to the same traumatic downsizing that millions of American factory workers suffered when their jobs and careers were exported to China to boost stock values on Wall Street.  The Senate vote to block or pass the legislation will be held in the Senate this week, according to Lee.  So far, GOP Sen. Perdue is the only Senator who is blocking the outsourcing bill on behalf of tens of millions of young American college graduates — many of whom are strong advocates for more migration and diversity.  The Democratic-run House already passed a similar HR.1044 bill, with the aid of 140 GOP legislators.  President Donald Trump’s deputies have not said if he will veto the combined bill.  The Department of Homeland Security described the Indian fraud at Mu Sigma:  Mu Sigma – a large, advanced analytics service provider headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with its main delivery center in Bangalore, India – was illegally circumventing U.S. government H-1B visa regulations by actively employing B1 visitor visa holders under contract within the U.S. In addition, the company’s invitation letters for the B1 visa holders misrepresented the nature of the B1 visitors’ intended business. Furthermore, company officials illegally instructed potential B1 business visitors and company handlers how to avoid detection by U.S. authorities. Mu Sigma B1 visa holders who were illegally working in the United States were also paid in India at India-based wages, which are substantially lower than their U.S. counterparts. This unlawful employment tactic greatly increased Mu Sigma’s profit margins and the company’s ability to provide low bids for end-user contracts. This investigation identified about 400 potential B1 visa violators, and more than 300 instances of illegal visa bond contracts, during the defined five-year statute of limitations. Investigating special agents also identified nine Mu Sigma executives and managers who actively participated in these schemes.  Indian graduates are paid roughly $7,000 a year.  But the company — including nine managers — was only fined $2.5 million for the violations.  Federal law includes loopholes for companies to claim they did not break the B1 visa rules. The DHS press statement linked to a document saying that B1 visas can be used for:  Mu Sigma is a successful Indian firm, and was described in Forbes as “India’s first profitable unicorn” — which is Silicon Valley jargon for a privately held company worth more than $1 billion.  The Mu Sigma case may be the tip of an iceberg of B1 fraud because the potential for Indian B1 fraud is vast.  The B1 visas last for ten years and allow visitors to stay in the United States for six months at a time. In 2019, the DHS report on visa overstays reported that 1.o8 million Indians visited the United States using the combined B1/B2 visa. The report did not provide any details on the number of repeat visits by company employees.  U.S. officials have already exposed numerous examples of H-1B and OPT fraud by Indian managers. “Based on your time in the U.S., you have basically defrauded everyone you could defraud,” a Seattle judge recently told one Indian executive as he was sentenced to seven years of jail for H-1B fraud, according to a report in the Seattle Times.  The fraud will likely expand if the Indian government persuades the U.S. government to include India in the “Visa Waiver” program. Once added, millions of Indians could travel freely into the U.S. labor market.  India’s fast-growing population of 1.3 billion people includes roughly 123 million young men aged between 15 and 24.  Roughly 630,000 illegal-immigrant Indians have moved into the United States during the last decade or more, so driving down wages while boosting real-estate and stock values. The illegal population includes many lower-caste workers imported by higher-caste business owners and many young graduates who failed to into the H-1B visa program.  Mu Sigma, the Indian-run firm in Chicago, also violated the American rules for H-1B visa workers, according to the DHS press statement:  U.S. and Indian companies keep a population of roughly 600,000 Indian H-1B workers, along with at least 200,000 Indians on other work permits, including H4EAD, L-1, OPT, TN, and J- visas.  Overall, at least 1.4 million foreign graduates hold U.S. white-collar jobs using the visas and work permits. This population is far larger than the 800,000 Americans who graduate from college in 2018 with degrees in healthcare, business, accounting, engineering, science, software, math or architecture.  Many of these Indians are employed by U.S.-based subcontractors who are in long-term outsourcing contracts with brand-name companies, including in the Internet, retail, banking, insurance, travel, design, healthcare, and accounting sectors.  Many of the Indian employers run their companies using Indian ideas and social norms — such as the idea of an ingrained “caste” hierarchy — regardless of U.S. laws against nepotism, bribery, and national, racial and sexual discrimination.  The resulting corporate islands of India-style discrimination are causing Americans to file lawsuits against their Indian employers. For example, on September 9, Kotchen & Low filed a lawsuit in San Jose on behalf of an American who was allegedly belittled and sidelined by Indian managers at an U.S.-based Indian company, named “Happiest Minds.” The lawsuit says:  Americans are also fired at higher rates by the company’s executive, says the lawsuit:  The Indian managers publicly mistreated the plaintiff, Tami Sulzberg, says the lawsuit:  Numerous other Americans describe similar episodes of Indian favoritism for other Indians. Beckie, a programmer at an international bank in North Carolina, told Breitbart:  I was working on a project and doing well … [but] the Director from India decided to transfer the project management to his friend from India … The new project manager tried to make me look bad to the Director.  He claimed that I was not showing interest in the project, was not attending meetings.  I attended every meeting except for two. I missed the one meeting because the new project manager sent the meeting notification out by email literally 15 minutes prior to the meeting. I was working on something and did not see the notice in time. It was not an important meeting and he could have called if it had been. I missed the other meeting because the new project manager sent the meeting notification out by email late on Friday (after I would have left for the day) for a meeting that occurred on either Sunday or Monday (I forget). In any case, the meeting occurred before I would normally return to work on Monday. I missed the two meetings because I did not know about them. Luckily, I had the email notifications as proof, but I knew I would eventually be removed from the project because of the new project manager’s preference. I was grateful for the heads up I received from the American project manager! There was eventually a mass layoff at the same company. I was out that day, but when I went to clear out my desk the next day, I glanced down the aisle and noticed that the desk of the only other American left in the aisle had already been cleared out.  He was not in my group.  Beckie remains unemployed, partly because Indian recruiters can be paid bonuses for getting underemployed Indian visa-workers into the new jobs sought by young American graduates.


breitbart--2019-10-08--Sanders Campaign Offers Special Protections for Transgender and Illegal Alien Employees

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) campaign is offering broad protections to transgender and illegal immigrant employees as part of its collective bargaining agreement, according to the Washington Examiner, which obtained a copy of the contract.  The Sanders campaign — which has touted the socialist senator as the most pro-worker candidate — became the first presidential campaign in history to unionize this year.  “Bernie Sanders is the most pro-union candidate in the field, he’ll be the most pro-union president in the White House and we’re honored that his campaign will be the first to have a unionized workforce,” Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir announced in March.  The statement added that the “majority of the campaign’s bargaining unit employees designated the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 to represent them as their exclusive bargaining representative.”  The Washington Examiner obtained a copy of the bargaining agreement, which contains a variety of protections for a plethora of diversity-centered issues, from transgender worker rights to implicit bias training.  The agreement allows the union to create committees designed to tackle issues such as “‘diversity, anti-harassment, microaggression, transgender worker rights, gender neutrality, inclusion, and implicit bias training,'” the Examiner reports.  The agreement specifically requires the Sanders campaign to keep track of an employee’s “gender expression” and “preferred gender pronouns” and specifies that transgender employees may use whichever bathroom they identify with. It also requires fellow employees to “refer to transgender Employees by the names they choose and the pronouns they identify with.” Additionally, “boarding materials and policy manuals” are expected to refrain from gendered language.  In order to best balance the personal preferences of all Employees, supervisors and Employees will be encouraged to make preferred pronouns a part of introductions at meetings, but no Employee will be required to state a preference, nor shall they be discriminated against for not stating a preference at such meetings. The contract also outlines protections for individuals who are not lawfully in the United States, even requiring the campaign to provide “English as a Second Language (ESL) and literacy classes to Employees, either directly or in partnership with not-for-profit ESL providers.”  The Sanders campaign is also forbidden from asking about a candidate’s criminal history or conduct a background check on a potential employee prior to an offer, nor will an employee’s absence due to “detention or incarceration by law enforcement pursuant to the Employees’ citizenship status or Visa status” lead to any discipline or be recorded on his attendance record. In the case of a Social Security “No-Match” letter, a notice from the federal government if a potential illegal immigrant falsified his social security number, the Sanders’ campaign is forbidden from contacting the Social Security Administration and cannot “interrogate any Employees about their SSN.” The contract also outlines strict rules prohibiting campaign workers from cooperating with federal immigration officers. The Sanders campaign hit a rough patch over the summer after facing accusations of retaliating against staffers for unionizing. An unnamed individual listed the alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act, accusing the campaign of “retaliation, repudiation, interrogation, discipline, and discharge.” The complaint alleges that the campaign terminated three employees “because the employees joined or supported a labor organization and in order to discourage union activities and/or membership.” It further states that the campaign disciplined or retaliated against three employees “because the employees engaged in protected concerted activities by, inter alia, discussion wages, hours, or other terms and conditions of employment and in order to discourage employees from engaging in protected concerted activities.” The report coincided with complaints from Sanders campaign employees, who accused the campaign of paying field organizers “poverty wages.” While Sanders initially suggested that they would make $15 an hour a reality by limiting employee hours, the two sides underwent negotiations and eventually reached an agreement. Despite suffering a heart attack last week, Sanders is determined to get back on the campaign trail and expected to participate in the October 15 Democrat primary debate in Westerville, Ohio.


breitbart--2019-10-18--Uber Lays Off 400 U.S. Employees, Imports Hundreds of Foreign Workers

Uber Technologies Inc. is laying off 400 American employees at its California offices while seeking to import hundreds of foreign workers through the H-1B visa program.  As detailed by the Mercury News, Uber laid off 88 U.S. employees in August and is laying off about 320 U.S. employees this month at its San Francisco and Palo Alto offices. In total, Uber executives said about 350 U.S. employees had been laid off. The majority of the layoffs are software engineers.  Simultaneously, Uber has sought to import more than 1,000 foreign workers through the H-1B visa to take U.S. jobs in Fiscal Year 2019. This year, alone, Uber asked to import up to 1,129 H-1B foreign workers despite the layoffs.  “When they’re laying off, they shouldn’t be using H-1Bs at all, or maybe sparingly at best,” said Howard University Ron Hira to the Mercury News. “It runs totally contrary to the intent of the H-1B program.”  Every year, more than 100,000 foreign workers are brought to the U.S. on the H-1B visa and are allowed to stay for up to six years. There are about 650,000 H-1B visa foreign workers in the U.S. at any given moment. Americans are often laid off in the process and forced to train their foreign replacements, as highlighted by Breitbart News. More than 85,000 Americans annually potentially lose their jobs to foreign labor through the H-1B visa program.  The Mercury News reports that Uber was able to import nearly 300 H-1B foreign workers this year — about double what the tech corporation had previously imported. In 2018, Uber imported about 152 H-1B foreign workers and in 2017, nearly 160 H-1B foreign workers were imported.  “Big Tech is laying off hard working Americans and replacing them with cheap foreign workers with H-1B visas,” Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) wrote in an online post. “Silicon Valley should be hiring American workers FIRST.”  Between 2016 and 2018, Uber has sought to import nearly 2,500 H-1B foreign workers to take high-paying white-collar jobs that would otherwise go to American STEM graduates and professionals.  Oftentimes, importing a foreign worker on the H-1B visa is the first step in a multinational corporation’s effort to outsource the American job, as the foreign worker arrives in the U.S., is trained in the job, and then is eventually sent back overseas with the job.  Analysis conducted last year reveal that 71 percent of tech workers in Silicon Valley are foreign-born, while the tech industry in the San Francisco, Oakland, and Hayward areas is made up of 50 percent foreign-born tech workers.  John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.


breitbart--2019-11-01--America Added 128,000 Jobs in October, Unemployment at 3.6%

Job creation was much stronger than expected in October.  The U.S. economy added 128,000 jobs for the month and the unemployment rate rose to 3.6 percent, higher than the month before but still near a 50-year low.  Economists had expected the economy to add 75,000 jobs, with forecasts ranging between 55,000 and 155,000, according to Econoday. That unusually wide range was caused, in part, by differing views of how the General Motors strike would hit employment at suppliers and related businesses.  Unemployment was expected to tick up to 3.6 percent.  Prior months were revised upward, indicating that the labor market has been much stronger than initial reports suggested. August’s initial 168,000 was revised up to 219,000. September’s soared from 136,000 to 180,000. Those revisions brought the three-month average up to 176,000.  The strength of the labor market was even more impressive because of the drag created by the GM strike and the government shedding workers it hired to conduct the census. The manufacturing sector shed 37,000 jobs in the month, many of which economists expect will be added back now that GM workers are back on the job. The government cut back by 17,000 jobs.  The pace of average hourly earnings rose by one-tenth of a percent to a year-over-year 3 percent gain. The average workweek was unchanged at 34.4 hours.


breitbart--2019-11-11--T-Mobile Pressures Employees to Use Transgender Language

The T-Mobile cellphone company is helping activist employees push the revolutionary claim that men can grab women’s pronouns and identity whenever they wish.  “T-Mobile is launching new optional name badges for all retail employees that can include employees’ personal pronouns,” the telecommunications firm announced November 6. The press statement said:  Executives are also looking for other ways to pressure employees to accept the revolutionary claim that men become women by just saying so:  By encouraging employees to claim opposite-sex pronouns, the company is helping the elite gender-ideology activists.  These activists want to erase linguistic, legal, and civic distinctions between men and women, and between girls and boys.  The company policy bans speech by employees who recognize that men and women are different, complementary, and equal. For example, female T-Mobile employees will be forced to use the wrong pronouns when a male employee insists on being addressed by a feminine pronoun, such as “she” or “her.”  “Women who have raised concerns about the impact of gender identity ideology and legislation … have been fired from their jobs, threatened, punched,” feminist Meghan Murphy told her audience at the Toronto Public Library on October 29. She continued:  This is unacceptable. Women have the right to speak about their sex based rights and to discuss valid concerns about the impact of men identifying as women on their safety. This trans activist movement — this gender identity ideology — is nothing if not an absolutely regressive, irrational, anti-woman movement that appears to have become incredibly authoritarian, as no one is allowed to question, challenge, or disagree. And those who do, like myself, are threatened with just about every social and physical punishment imaginable — jail, social ostracization, loss of income, violence, even death. It is insanity. Even more so when you consider that it is those of us simply trying to speak — to have a conversation — to ask pivotal questions about laws and ideas and policies that impact our lives and the lives of others — who are accused of “bigotry,” “fascism,” and “violence.” The reversals boggle the mind. And the government and the media have completely failed women on this issue.  By eliminating distinctions between women and men, the transgender movement is eliminating the recognition that women are defined by their female biology, Murphy said:  The entire language of the trans activist movement has taken up the erasure of women in order to accommodate a tiny minority of people who would like us all to pretend that material reality doesn’t exist. We are no longer women, but ‘cis women’, which means, supposedly, we are women who ‘identify with the gender assigned to us at birth’. This is insulting. I am not a woman because I identify with femininity. Femininity refers to the set of stereotypes imposed on women in a patriarchal society. I do not identify with those stereotypes. I am not passive, irrational, or over emotional. I am not a woman because I wear makeup or high heels. My long hair does not make me a woman. If I were currently in sweatpants and sneakers, if I shaved my head and went makeupless and took up football, I’d still be a woman.  The corporate support for a tiny subgroup of transgenders will undermine the recognition that women are different from men and have their own different set of legal rights, Murphy said:  Over and over again, I ask those who insist that “transwomen are women” what the word “woman” means. They refuse to answer. They simply say, “It’s a person who identifies as a woman,” which essentially means, “it’s nothing at all” — it is anything anyone says it is. On what basis do women’s rights exist, if the word “woman” is meaningless? If anyone can identify in and out of femaleness on a whim? If we wish to maintain women’s rights and protect women’s spaces, we cannot separate women from femaleness. It is irrational and dangerous. It makes women and girls vulnerable. Beyond that, there is absolutely no reason why we can’t protect the rights of individuals to step outside gender roles, and to express themselves as they like, and also understand that sexual dimorphism is real, that males and females exist, and that those differences matter.  T-Mobile executives adopted the gender language after being lobbied by an employee at a gay advocacy event, according to the press statement:  Tiffanie [Moton] as inspired by a coworker who was transitioning, who did not want to be referred to as he or she. Tiffanie realized that a simple addition to name tags would help this employee from being misgendered and is an easy solution to bringing up the pronoun conversation. After meeting Jon Freier, T-Mobile’s Executive Vice President of Consumer Markets, at a World Pride in New York City over the summer, Tiffanie sent a follow-up email with an idea to add pronouns to name badges — citing wording from MyPronouns.org to help her explain the importance.  The policy helps T-Mobile keep a high approval rating from the Human Rights Campaign, which is transitioning from advocacy for gays and lesbians into a pro-transgender group. The T-Mobile statement said:  In general, the transgender ideology says a person’s legal and civic recognition as a man or a woman is determined by their “gender identity,” not by their biology.  The ideology also insists that men and women are more or less interchangeable, and it objects to the public’s view of the two sexes as simultaneously different, complementary, and equal.  The transgender advocates want to impose their ideology on Americans by establishing “transgender rights” laws. Those rights would require the Department of Justice to penalize individuals and groups who insist that biology determines each person’s male or female status — and also shapes peoples’ likely political, civic, and personal priorities.  Polls show that the transgender ideology is deeply unpopular, especially among women and parents. In 2017, former President Barack Obama told National Public Radio (NPR) that his promotion of the transgender ideology made it easier for Donald Trump to win the presidency.  Multiple polls show that most Americans reasonably wish to help and comfort people who think they are a member of the opposite sex. But those polls also show that Americans reject the transgender ideology’s claim that people’s legal sex is determined by their feeling of “gender identity,” not by biology. A U.K. survey shows a similar mix of sympathy for people who say they are transgender alongside lopsided opposition to the ideology.  The transgender movement is diverse, so its different factions have competing goals and priorities. It includes sexual liberationists, progressives, feminists who wish to blur distinctions between the two sexes, and people who glamorize the differences between the two sexes. It includes high-profile children, people who are trying to live as members of the opposite sex, troubled teenage girls trying to flee womanhood, and people trying to “detransition” back to their sex.  It also includes men who demand sex from lesbians, masculine autogynephiles who say they are entitled to women’s rights, alpha males who insist they are the natural leaders of women, parents eager to support their children’s transgender claims, wealthy donors, politicians, political professionals, revenue-seeking drug companies, surgeons, and medical service providers.  Transgender advocates claim that two million Americans say they are transgender to a greater or lesser extent. But very few people who describe themselves as transgender undergo cosmetic surgery of the genitals. Only about 4,118 Americans surgically altered their bodies in hospitals from 2000 to 2014 to appear like members of the opposite sex, according to a pro-transgender medical study. A Pentagon report commissioned by former Defense Secretary James Mattis said that “rates for genital surgery are exceedingly low- 2% of transgender men and 10% of transgender women.”  Yet the gender ideology is rapidly gaining power, aided by huge donations from wealthy individuals and medical companies.  In Ohio, for example, in February, a judge forced parents of a teenage girl to give up custody so she could begin a lifetime of drug treatments and surgery that would allow her to appear as a male.  The progressive push to bend Americans’ attitudes and their male-and-female civic society around the idea of “gender identity” has already attacked and cracked many of the popular social rules that help Americans manage the cooperation and competition among and between complementary, different, and equal men and women.  These pro-gender claims have an impact on different-sex bathrooms, shelters for battered women, sports leagues for girls, hiking groups for boys, K-12 curricula, university speech codes, religious freedoms, free speech, the social status of women, parents’ rights in childrearing, children’s safety, practices to help teenagers,health outcomes, women’s ideals of beauty, culture and civil society, scientific research, prison safety, civic ceremonies, school rules, men’s sense of masculinity, law enforcement, military culture, and children’s sexual privacy.


breitbart--2019-11-15--New Jersey Orders Uber to Pay $650 Million in Employment Taxes for Drivers

Uber has been ordered to pay close to $650 million in employment taxes in New Jersey after the state’s department of labor said the ride-sharing company misclassified its drivers as independent contractors, according to a Bloomberg report.  Bloomberg Law first reported Thursday that New Jersey has hit Uber and subsidiary Rasier LLC with $523 million in past-due taxes for the last four years. In addition, the companies face as much as $119 million in interest and penalties on the unpaid amounts.  Uber maintains that its drivers are independent contractors, saying it is determined to fight the assessment.  “We are challenging this preliminary but incorrect determination, because drivers are independent contractors in New Jersey and elsewhere,” an Uber spokesperson told Bloomberg Law.  Bloomberg Law said an open public records request revealed that New Jersey’s labor department has been pursuing Uber for unpaid employment taxes for at least four years.  Uber faces a similar dilemma in California, where it is fighting a recently passed state measure that would reclassify gig economy workers as employees, potentially entitling them to perks including a minimum wage and sick time.  Companies including Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have pledged to spend $90 million to fight the law, which poses an existential threat to their business models.  Uber is facing an unrelated lawsuit in New York by a class of 96,000 drivers seeking repayment for fees deducted from their fares.  In New Jersey, the state’s tax determination against Uber is limited to unemployment and disability insurance, according to Bloomberg. The news outlet reported that Uber’s costs per driver could increase by more than 20% if it were forced to reclassify workers as employees.  The state’s department of labor did not reply to a request for comment from Breitbart News.  Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com


breitbart--2019-11-21--Elizabeth Warren: We Need 10,000 Federal Employees to ‘Rebuild Our National Forests,’ Fight Climate

Elizabeth Warren: We Need 10,000 Federal Employees to ‘Rebuild Our National Forests,’ Fight Climate Change

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said on Wednesday at the Democrat debate that she wants to see alternatives to military service in the United States and promised if she is president, she will add 10,000 federal employees who will “rebuild our national forests.”  She made the remarks after she was told that only one percent of Americans serve in the military and was asked if that number should be increased. Warren said it should.  “I think it’s an important part of who we are as Americans,” Warren said. “I also believe we should have other service opportunities in this country.”  Warren said that as president, she would “bring in 10,000 people.”  “As a way to express both their public service and their commitment to fight back against climate change,” Warren said.  In her closing statement, Warren said climate change would be a priority if she is elected president.


breitbart--2019-11-25--Goldman Sachs Tells Employees: Use Transgender Pronouns to Become an ‘Ally'

Male employees at Goldman Sachs can freely grab women’s female identities and pronouns, says the company’s pro-transgender policy.  “Proactively share your pronouns to foster an environment of respect and awareness (ex: “Hi, I’m Karen! My pronouns are she/hers. Welcome to the team!”),” Goldman directed its staffers November 22.  The company’s “diversity and inclusion” group posted the document on November 22, instructing employees to stop using pronouns which recognize the average biological, physiological, and psychological distinctions between men and women:  Tips for Being an Inclusive Ally Pronouns should not be assumed by someone’s name or gender expression (i.e. physical appearance). Made a mistake? Don’t make a big deal out of it or draw extra attention to it; instead, make a swift apology and use the correct pronoun(s) moving forward. Practice using gender-neutral pronouns on your own time. Feeling comfortable with these terms does not happen immediately and can require concerted effort. Recognize that some people go by multiple sets of pronouns, while others may choose to only use their name and eschew pronouns completely. It is usually acceptable to use the “They / Them” pronoun set when referring to someone who has not expressly stated their pronouns.  To publicize the new pro-transgender policy, the company released a video where transgender activists pressured company employees to drop their recognition of the two sexes. The activists then urged employees to accept the transgender ideology, which insists that women must let men freely slip into women’s identity, status, and private spaces.  The three activists featured in the video used poll-tested language to divide and profile the company’s workforce as either “allies” or non-allies — such as enemies.  They also threatened lawsuits against people who want to maintain popular distinctions between men and women.  The trio also demanded public submission by women and men — but they offered nothing in exchange for their revolutionary demand that people must ignore the biological distinctions between men and women.  For example, Sarah McBride, an advocate at the pro-transgender Human Rights Campaign, told the panel of unenthusiastic employees that they must enforce the gender-trumps-sex rule in the hallways and around the water-coolers, or else Goldman Sachs employees may attack other employees;  An inclusive workplace environment goes beyond [company] policies and practices. It includes the everyday reality for transgender people; Whether they feel safe bringing their whole selves to work, whether their colleagues are inclusive and supportive, whether they’re hearing jokes in the hallways or around the water cooler. Those are integral parts to making sure the workplace is inclusive, and all of us, whether we are trans or not, can play an active role in making sure our workplaces are inclusive, and I think so often when we talk about allyship, it is so important to remember that that includes actions, and we need our allies to put something on the line. Oftentimes, that is their comfort, and most commonly that is going to be making sure that when they hear a comment or a joke — that even unintentionally demeans transpeople — that they speak out because those little indignities in the workplace, those can create a culture where more pervasive discrimination — or even violence — can occur.  The activists did not provide any physiological and biological claim that men who live as women are actually women. “Gender identity is a very deeply held belief in your own gender … it is not just a preference or a whim, it is really a very deeply held feeling,” said Jillian Weiss, an attorney who also said the new transgender focus creates legal risks for company employees.  A Goldman employee who is living as a woman argued company employees want to repent when they are rebuked for not appropriating women’s pronouns while speaking to a transgender man. “The natural inclusion is to get defensive and to say, ‘I’m really an ally, and I’m trying really hard, and I only want the best for you,'” said Katie Krasky.  Amid the threats, McBride claimed moral superiority over the majority of Americans who do not want to transfer female pronouns to men, “We’ll demonstrate the grace that is required to allow you to grow.”  “The only way that we can address these issues …is if we are truly increasing inclusive spaces for everyone,” said McBride, who pointedly ignored the majority of Americans who recognize the complementary biological differences among men and women.  Throughout the presentation, the man who presented the panel was eager to please the activists. “Love that, absolutely love that,” said Gary Giglio, a regional manager. “If someone uses the wrong pronoun, say something to that person, pull them aside in private, say something, or if you have to do it publicly … all that is incredibly, incredibly important,” he warned the audience.  The company’s top executives are adopting a pro-diversity policy to help hire more women. But the managers have not reconciled their pro-woman policy with the emerging policy of forcing women to surrender their female identity to men who insist they are women. In July, Fortune reported:  Nine months into his new role as the CEO of the storied Wall Street firm, David Solomon says that diversity has become one of the company’s top priorities. “As a leader, you have to push on the things that make a company a more desirable place for people to be,” Solomon said. “One of the things that I’ve been very focused on since I became CEO is really making sure people know that a hugely important agenda item of mine is to improve the diversity and inclusiveness in this organization. I’m really taking it on in as forceful of a way as I can because it’s a business imperative and it’s right. It’s time for us to progress on this. It’s a big part of who we are as a firm.”  Numerous data shows that transgender men comprise less than 1 percent of the population, and only about 10 percent of the men undergo expensive cosmetic surgery to reconfigure their genitalia.  Gay men, lesbians, and feminists are increasingly joining with conservatives to speak out against the transgender demand.  “Sisters, when a man puts you under constant surveillance and retaliates whenever you say no, and huffs about being indispensable, and he makes you lie to spare his feelings, and he always puts you in the wrong — no matter what — that is not a partnership,” said Natasha Chart, a New York feminist. “I will not be forced to lie. I will not submit. It’s abuse.”  I have said that trans-identified males are male. Because they are. This is not a judgement or an insult, it is simply a material reality — a biological reality. If you are born male, you remain male for life. Everyone knows this. It is not a belief or an opinion, it is a fact. The entire language of the trans activist movement has taken up the erasure of women in order to accommodate a tiny minority of people who would like us all to pretend that material reality doesn’t exist. We are no longer women, but ‘cis women’, which means, supposedly, we are women who ‘identify with the gender assigned to us at birth’. Over and over again, I ask those who insist that “transwomen are women” what the word “woman” means. They refuse to answer. They simply say, “It’s a person who identifies as a woman,” which essentially means, “it’s nothing at all” — it is anything anyone says it is. On what basis do women’s rights exist, if the word “woman” is meaningless? If anyone can identify in and out of femaleness on a whim? If we wish to maintain women’s rights and protect women’s spaces, we cannot separate women from femaleness. It is irrational and dangerous. It makes women and girls vulnerable. Beyond that, there is absolutely no reason why we can’t protect the rights of individuals to step outside gender roles, and to express themselves as they like, and also understand that sexual dimorphism is real, that males and females exist, and that those differences matter.  Despite claiming to oppose stereotypes, the transgender ideology is based on tight stereotypes about women and men. For example, McBride told the Goldman employees that men who like to cook are “gender non-conforming.”  In contrast, conservatives recognize the clear physiological distinctions between men and women while also understanding the wide range of overlapping preferences and characteristics among men and women. The best way to accommodate the competing complexities, says conservatives, is to embrace a mixture of customs, science, laws, and jurisdictions which try to balance personal freedoms and average sex-related differences.  In general, the transgender ideology says a person’s legal and civic recognition as a man or a woman must be determined by their “gender identity,” not by their biology.  The ideology also insists that men and women are more or less interchangeable, and it objects to the public’s view of the two sexes as simultaneously different, complementary, and equal.  The transgender advocates want to impose their ideology on Americans by establishing “transgender rights” laws. The laws would require the Department of Justice to penalize individuals and groups, which insist that biology shapes male-or-female bodies — and peoples’ likely political, civic, and personal priorities.  Polls show that the transgender ideology is deeply unpopular, especially among women and parents. In 2017, former President Barack Obama told NPR that his promotion of the transgender ideology made it easier for Donald Trump to win the presidency.  Multiple polls show that most Americans reasonably wish to help and comfort people who think they are a member of the opposite sex. The polls also show that the public rejects the transgender ideology’s claim that people’s legal sex should be determined by their feeling of “gender identity,” not by biology. A U.K. survey shows a similar mix of sympathy for people who say they are transgender alongside deep opposition to the ideology.  Surveys also show an almost universal rejection of transgender dating.  The transgender movement is diverse because the different factions have competing goals and priorities.  It includes sexual liberationists, progressives, and people who glamorize the differences between the two sexes. It includes high-profile children, people who are trying to live as members of the opposite sex, troubled teenage girls trying to flee womanhood, parents eager to describe their children as transgender rather than homosexual, and people trying to “detransition” back to their sex,  It also includes feminists who wish to blur distinctions between the two sexes, men who demand sex from lesbians, masculine autogynephiles who desire validation from women, alpha males who insist they are the natural leaders of women. Other supporters include wealthy donors, politicians, political professionals, revenue-seeking drug companies, surgeons, psychiatrists, and medical service providers.  Transgender advocates claim that two million Americans say they are transgender to a greater or lesser extent. But very few people who describe themselves as transgender undergo cosmetic surgery of the genitals. Only about 4,118 Americans surgically altered their bodies in hospitals from 2000 to 2014 to appear like members of the opposite sex, according to a pro-transgender medical study. A Pentagon report commissioned by former Defense Secretary James Mattis said that “rates for genital surgery are exceedingly low- 2% of transgender men and 10% of transgender women.”  The progressive push to bend Americans’ attitudes and their male-and-female civic society around the idea of “gender identity” has already attacked and cracked many popular social rules. These transgender win have impacted different-sex bathrooms, shelters for battered women, sports leagues for girls, outdoor groups for boys, K-12 curricula, university speech codes, religious freedoms, free speech, the social status of women, parents’ rights in childrearing, children’s safety, practices to help teenagers, health outcomes, women’s ideals of beauty, culture and civil society, scientific research, prison safety, civic ceremonies, school rules, men’s sense of masculinity, law enforcement, military culture, and children’s sexual privacy.


breitbart--2019-11-30--Starbucks: Employee Who Wrote 'PIG' on Police Officer's Cup Is 'No Longer a Partner'

GLENPOOL, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma police chief says an officer bought Starbucks for 911 dispatchers working on Thanksgiving only to find that the word “PIG” was printed on the cups’ labels.  The officer notified Kiefer Police Chief Johnny O’Mara, who called the store and spoke to a manager. O’Mara says they offered to reprint the computer-generated labels, but he took to social media and posted the photo. It has since gone viral.  The officer told KTUL-TV that the employee reached out to him personally and apologized, saying it was a joke.  However, in a Friday statement, Starbucks said the worker who wrote the offending word on the cup “used poor judgment and is no longer a partner’’ after the violation of company policy.  “This language is offensive to all law enforcement and is not representative of the deep appreciation we have for police officers who work tirelessly to keep our communities safe,” the statement said.  In a separate joint statement, Starbucks and the Kiefer Police Department stated they are committed to using the incident as an opportunity to promote greater civility. Starbucks officials said they will be meeting with Kiefer police officials to discuss ways to work together, including a jointly hosted event that will allow local law enforcement to meet with baristas and community members “to discuss the critical role dispatchers and police offers play in keeping our communities safe.”  Last year, Starbucks closed stores and had employees undergo anti-bias training after the arrest of two black men in a Philadelphia location. The coffee chain’s executives met with Arizona officers earlier this year after six officers were asked to leave a store because a customer felt unsafe.


breitbart--2019-12-06--More Black Men Have Jobs Than Ever Before, Unemployment Rate Holds at Lowest Level Ever

The unemployment rate for black men remained at the lowest level ever in November.  The economy added 266,000 jobs in the month, far more than expected. Black men over 20 picked up 14,000 of those jobs, according to Labor Department data released Friday. That matched in increase in the civilian labor force for that cohort.  As a result, the unemployment rate for black men stayed at the all-time low of 5.1 percent hit in October.  The total number of black men employed in the U.S. rose to a seasonally adjusted 9,014,000, the highest on record. The total black male civilian labor force is comprised of just under 9.5 million individuals. The labor force participation rate held steady at 68 percent.  The unemployment rate for black women ticked up a notch to 4.9 percent but remains near its recent record low of 4.8 percent.  The combined unemployment rate for black men, women, and young people between 16 and 19 is a 5.5 percent, a tick above the all-time low of 5.4 percent hit last month.


breitbart--2019-12-11--Pro-Employee Groups Slam Democrats' Amnesty Deal with Agriculture Industry

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and several other left-wing, anti-poverty groups are opposing the Democrats’ amnesty-for-cheap-labor deal, which faces a vote in the House today.  The amnesty legislation, dubbed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, is designed to get support from agriculture employers by offering a huge wave of cheap H-2A visa workers to replace the 1.5 million illegal migrants who would be amnestied and given citizenship by the deal. The imported cheap H-2A workers are also expected to replace Americans in many jobs throughout the sector.  The Democrats’ corporatist deal, H.R. 5058, is backed by many agriculture trade groups and by around 30 GOP legislators.  “UFCW is concerned that the Farm Workforce Modernization Act will expand the length of the farm worker visa from seasonal to year-round and weaken the requirements to hire American workers,” says the December 8 letter sent to Democrat leaders by the UFCW’s director of legislative affairs. The letter continues:  Currently, the H-2A program is for temporary or seasonal work and cannot be used to meet employers’ year-round agricultural labor needs. Allowing year-round visas would increase the number of employers that might consider using the program and decrease wages for workers in other sectors. … We are also concerned that this bill will result in pay cuts for workers. … Unfortunately, changes to how the [Adverse Effect Wage Rate] is calculated under this bill would lower wages for most H-2A workers, depressing wages for all farmworkers. UFCW opposes the exploitation of migrant workers and supports a path to citizenship for farmworkers in this country and that position remains unchanged. However, we are concerned hat the farm Farm Workforce Moderation Act sets up a framework that will harm agricultural workers and workers in neighboring industries such as meat and poultry processing.  The amnesty side of the deal is being opposed by GOP leaders in the House, even as they support the widespread use of the H-2A visa workers in the agricultural economy.  Business and investor groups prefer the cheap H-2A visa workers to the alternative policy of developing labor-saving machinery, or of competing with other employers to hire Americans at fair-market rates.  On Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s deputies said he would veto the Democrats’ pending drug bill — but they did not threaten to veto the Democrats’ amnesty for at least one million illegals. “It is frankly astounding that the White House did not issue a veto threat on H.R. 5038,” a Capitol Hill source told Breitbart News, adding:  The H-2A program is also being slammed by The Progressive:  With little fanfare—even as the Trump Administration cracks down on immigrant deportation and threatens DACA—use of the program has exploded. The program has ballooned from 139,832 visas in 2015 to 257,667 in 2019. In 1996, it issued just 11,000 visas. The Trump Administration is now looking to use executive action to push rule changes aimed at “modernizing the H-2A program and eliminating inefficiencies.” John Bauknecht from United Migrant Opportunity Services warned these changes would allow employers to self-inspect living conditions, make major changes to job terms in the middle of the farm season, and change the hiring process in such a way that sharply reduces employers’ current obligation to recruit U.S. workers. The rule changes would also lower workers’ wages, expand the program to other industries, and shift costs for transportation—currently paid by employers—onto workers, again risking the creation of an indentured worker system. The changes were filed in July and received public comment in September. A “compromise” is now being considered in Congress, but the proposal, known as the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2019, maintains core regressive elements of the [2019] H-2C legislation. Crucially, it also creates new tools of worker coercion.  The labor-for-amnesty deal is a crony-capitalist giveaway, says a new video from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which argues that the agricultural investors should hire Americans before importing more workers:  Exploitation, greed, The status quo. This is the story of the American farm lobby and their quest for Cheap foreign labor,” says a FAIR video, which continues: They will do just about anything to get it, including sabotaging immigration reform at the expense of all Americans.   Here’s what you need to know. F or years Americans across the country have been concerned about the situation at our nation’s borders. But despite promise after promise by politicians on both sides, nothing changes. For decades government commissions have laid out the best way to solve the problem: Interior enforcement, E-Verify, no amnesty, no green cards for lawbreakers, and a reliance on American workers to get the jobs done. But big agriculture has different plans. Now, these aren’t your small family farms. We’re talking about a huge mega-corporation. For 50 years, American voters have told these corporations to either use machinery for harvesting or find American workers. Yet big agriculture continues to demand and get a steady flow of foreign workers, usually here illegally. You see, Big Ag loves illegal workers because they work cheap, hard, and scared. Due to their status, they cannot demand [legal protections]. They just do the work and disappear into our cities, schools, hospitals, and communities, only to be replaced by the next group of illegal workers. Faced with proposals to stop this cycle once and for all, Big Ag reacts with false cries about worker shortage and then insists its very survival hinges on an endless supply of cheap labor. And the result — Big Ag has killed one immigration reform bill after another. There was 2007, then 2013, then 2017. Big Ag even stopped Congress from getting a border enforcement bill through in President Trump’s first term. And that brings us to today and the proposed Farm Workforce Modernization Act. Okay, the mega-farms finally say, we will use E-Verify. That sounds good, right, but there’s a catch. How about a fraud-ridden amnesty for 1.5 million illegal aliens. How about a massive expansion of a guest worker program that would literally bind immigrants to farms for ten years before getting a green card, and they can’t leave without losing their chance at a green card. That’s not just cheap labor — it is indentured servitude. It’s unethical, un-American exploitation, plain and simple. Big Agriculture has had 50 years to get its act together. Fifty years to find alternative ways to harvest crops. Fifty years to do it the right way. But they’ll never change until Congress cuts off their endless supply of cheap foreign labor. It is time to end big Agriculture’s foreign-labor addiction. It’s time for Big Ag to hire Americans and protect American prosperity. It is time for them to stop exploiting vulnerable foreign workers for profit. Let’s stop the so-called Workforce Modernization Act. Support E-Verify. End the exploitation of cheap labor, and hold Big Ag accountable once-and-for-all.  Breitbart News has extensively covered the dispute amid near-total silence from established media outlets, such as the Washington Post and the New York Times.


breitbart--2019-12-30--More Than 1 Million Employees Eligible for Overtime in 2020

More than one million employees could see a fatter paycheck in 2020 as the federal government is overhauling overtime pay requirements for the first time in 15 years.  The Department of Labor’s recent overtime rule changes the salary threshold for overtime pay from $23,660 a year, or $455 a week, to $35,568 per year, or $684 weekly, the Wall Street Journal reported.  This is the first time the figure has changed since 2004, and will affect an estimated 1.3 million workers if they put in more than 40 hours of work per week. They would be paid at one-and-a-half times their hourly rate.  Salaried employees or those in managerial positions will not qualify for the new overtime pay rule.  Not only could this rule benefit newly eligible employees, but it could also benefit employers.  “In this day in age, where we’re really trying to attract talent in such a tight labor market, employers can embrace this change and position it as a positive for their employees,” Erron Stark, vice president of channel sales at ADP, told Fox Business. “If they recognize that benefit, there could be an inherent benefit to their organization as well.”  The Department of Labor rule will take effect on January 1, 2020.


businessinsider--2019-09-19--Wayfairs CEO reportedly said he wants to hire non-political employees 3 months after workers walk

Wayfair's CEO reportedly said he wants to hire 'non-political' employees 3 months after workers walked out to protest furnishing border camps (W)

Wayfair's billionaire cofounder and CEO Niraj Shah reportedly said that he wants to hire employees who are "non-political."  Shah was asked on a panel in Boston on Thursday what Wayfair looks for when hiring, Boston Business Journal reported.  Read more: Leaked Wayfair documents reveal massive racial disparity in company leadership as it grapples with employee-led crisis over furnishing border camps  "We're generally just looking for people on two sets of criteria. One, it's just that … they're incredibly talented. They're intelligent, quantitative. Just that we think they have the raw material to really succeed and we feel confident," Shah reportedly said.  "The second thing we look for — equally important — is the cultural fit. So we're bringing in non-political, you know, highly collaborative, just very driven and ambitious. There's a whole lot of cultural values that we think are important while we succeeded," Shah continued, according to Boston Business Journal. "We only hire (those candidates) who have these two sets; both kinds of traits for success."  Wayfair said in a statement to Business Insider that Shah's comments were "misinterpreted and inaccurately positioned in this story."  "We seek employees who are collaborative and focused on positive interaction in the workplace," a Wayfair representative said in a statement. "He was in no way referring to politics at large. Our culture, of course, welcomes and respects all viewpoints and perspectives and we are proud to have employees that engage in the greater community."  The furniture company was slammed by progressive critics in June after employees discovered the company had sold more than $200,000 worth of furniture to be used at a facility being set up to detain young migrants. Hundreds of employees sent a letter to executives slamming the decision, with many walking out of work in protest.


businessinsider--2019-10-04--US adds fewer jobs than expected in September unemployment hits 50-year low

US adds fewer jobs than expected in September, unemployment hits 50-year low

Government data out Friday showed that hiring cooled but held up at a solid pace in September, offering a snapshot of the American economy during a period marked by heightened uncertainty and concerns about a potential slowdown.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the US added 136,000 nonfarm payrolls last month, fewer than the 168,000 created in August but enough to push unemployment levels to fresh lows, at 3.5%. Analysts had forecast an increase of 147,000 jobs.  Average hourly earnings increased by 2.9% from a year earlier, the slowest pace since July 2018, which could bolster expectations for the Federal Reserve to lower borrowing costs this month.  "While the correlation between wages and inflation isn't particularly strong, tepid wage growth will still reduce concerns that a tight labor market will suddenly push prices higher," said Eric Winograd, the senior US economist at AllianceBernstein. "It removes one potential impediment to Fed rate cuts."  Trade tensions have added pressure to a labor market that was already expected to slow this year as the effects of tax cuts and other stimulus measures began to fade. From July to September, 157,000 jobs were created each month on average.  "Economic growth, and therefore job creation, are showing clear signs of slowing," said Cailin Birch, a global economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "The core issue behind this is trade policy uncertainty, and the negative impact this has already had on some key export markets for US firms, including the EU and China."  The effects of tariffs levied between the US and major trading partners have grown increasingly evident in recent weeks, fueling broader concerns about the economy.  On Tuesday, data showed that the manufacturing sector fell deeper into a recession in September as new orders and hiring cooled further. American factories lost 2,000 jobs last month, the BLS report said.  "The uncertainty linked to the direction of trade policy may exact a larger price on hiring across goods producing and manufacturing jobs," said Joe Brusuelas, the chief economist at RSM, a financial-consulting firm.  The Trump administration plans to expand tariffs to thousands of consumer products from China and the European Union in the coming months, which would put businesses and households more directly at risk.  Separate data released Thursday suggested that higher costs and uncertainty have started to weigh on the service sector, which accounts for most of the activity in the economy. Retail trade lost 11,000 jobs in September and has shed 197,000 positions since a peak in January 2017.  The labor market struggled to pull Americans from the sidelines last month. The labor-force participation rate held steady at 63.2%, a figure that is low by historical standards and compared with other countries.  President Donald Trump seized on the employment report on Friday, suggesting that the 108th month of job gains could undermine impeachment proceedings against him. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched the inquiry last week after a whistleblower complaint said Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate a 2020 campaign rival.  "Breaking News: Unemployment Rate, at 3.5%, drops to a 50 YEAR LOW," the president wrote on Twitter. "Wow America, lets impeach your President (even though he did nothing wrong!)."  Read more: Trump promised to revive US manufacturing. But the sector just plunged deeper into a recession.  Now read: The chief strategist at a $1 trillion investing giant says Trump is doomed to lose his trade war — and explains why that would be the best possible outcome for markets


buzzfeed--2019-04-22--The Supreme Court Will Decide Whether Employers Can Discriminate Against LGBT Employees

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will decide whether it’s illegal under federal law for employers to discriminate against gay and transgender workers.  The case centers around Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. The Supreme Court will determine whether “sex” applies to sexual orientation and gender identity as well.  If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the employees claiming discrimination, it will be an important win for LGBT advocates who have been advocating for protections under the Civil Rights Act for decades. It would also be a major hit for the Trump administration, which has openly advocated against the Civil Rights Act applying to LGBT individuals in hearings and briefs.  The court said Monday it will hear three cases on the issue: one from New York, one from Georgia, and one from Michigan. The New York and Georgia cases came to opposite conclusions about whether sexual orientation is protected by the Civil Rights Act. The Michigan case will examine whether gender identity is protected.  The New York case, Zarda v. Altitude Express Inc., was brought by a skydiving instructor claiming he was fired because he was gay. In February, a federal court of appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled in favor of the employee, concluding that discrimination based on sexuality was a “subset of sex discrimination” because discriminating against someone for being attracted to someone of the same sex was, in part, based on what sex they are.  "A woman who is subject to an adverse employment action because she is attracted to women would have been treated differently if she had been a man who was attracted to women," the majority wrote in the New York appeals court decision. "We can therefore conclude that sexual orientation is a function of sex and, by extension, sexual orientation discrimination is a subset of sex discrimination."  A court in Georgia drew the opposite conclusion, however. A child welfare services coordinator claimed he was terminated for being gay, and the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta ruled this was legal, citing a 1979 case that ruled the Civil Rights Act did not protect discrimination based on sexuality. Georgia’s ban on consensual sodomy wasn’t overturned until 1998.  When examining the third case, in Michigan, the Supreme Court will consider the separate but related question about whether gender identity is protected under federal law. The case was brought by Aimee Stephens who sued the funeral home where she worked for firing her after she announced she identified as a transgender woman and would start presenting outwardly as female.  The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Stephens, concluding that discriminating against an employee because they are transgender was illegal.  The New York and Michigan cases cited Supreme Court precedent that could help their arguments. In 1989 the Supreme Court ruled in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins that it was illegal to discriminate against workers because they did not conform to ideas of how a certain gender should behave.  Ann Hopkins had claimed she was denied a partnership at Price Waterhouse because she didn’t act feminine enough. The court ruled in that case that Price Waterhouse “had unlawfully discriminated against her on the basis of sex by consciously giving credence and effect to partners' comments about her that resulted from sex stereotyping.”  The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, a federal agency, cited this precedent as well, in a hearing in the New York case in September, arguing that, “sex stereotyping says that if you are a man attracted to a man, or a woman attracted to a woman, you’re not behaving the way those genders are supposed to behave.”  The Justice Department countered this point in the same hearing, arguing that there is “a common-sense difference between sex discrimination and sexual orientation discrimination.”  The Supreme Court will hear the cases in its next term, which will begin in October 2019.


buzzfeed--2019-07-16--Democrats Are Pushing A Bill To Give Domestic Workers Employee Protections

Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Pramila Jayapal are leading a group of Democrats in Congress to introduce a bill giving domestic workers protections against sexual harassment and racial discrimination, which many currently don’t have because they’re excluded under civil rights laws.  The bill, which legislators plan to introduce in the House and Senate on Monday, is unlikely to clear the Republican-controlled Senate and be signed into law by the president, even if Democrats pass it in the House.  The National Domestic Workers Alliance, which represents housekeepers, home health aides, and nannies from across the country, was involved in crafting the new bill and nine other similar state-level bills in recent years.  “This bill is a moral anchor for us in a time of national political strife,” Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, said at a press conference in Washington, DC.  Poo said the bill aims to correct loopholes in the Civil Rights Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and the National Labor Relations Act, which don’t currently require employers with fewer than 15 workers to abide by anti-discrimination and workplace health and safety laws.  The measure includes a plan to set up a federal wages and standards board modeled on the boards in Seattle, New York, and California, training programs for industry groups, and a task force to focus on the issue run by the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It would also provide a minimum wage and overtime pay for domestic workers.  “For a long time we have been experiencing inequality, wage theft, verbal abuse, physical abuse,” said June Barrett, a Miami-based organizer with NWDA who worked as a home health care aide for 16 years and said she was sexually harassed several times. “I think domestic workers have been excluded from the labor laws because they don’t see it as real work.”