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MA Lawmakers to Weigh Four-Day Work Week The Massachusetts House Labor and Workforce Development Committee scheduled a hearing last week on legislation ( HB 3849 ) that would provide tax credits to businesses...
Bills to Overhaul Long-Term Care and Control Prescription Drug Costs on Move in MA The Massachusetts House unanimously passed a bill ( HB 4178 ) that would overhaul the long-term care industry, while...
OpenAI Ousts CEO Sam Altman The board of directors of OpenAI, developer of ChatGPT, announced on the company’s blog last week that its CEO Sam Altman would be stepping down. The blog post said...
For more than half a year, labor strife has swept the country. First, Hollywood writers went on strike in May. Then actors joined them in walking off the set a couple months later, in July. Detroit...
IL Lawmakers Approve Bill Lifting Moratorium on Nuclear Power Plants: The Illinois General Assembly passed legislation ( HB 2437 ) that, as amended, will lift a nearly four-decades-old moratorium on new...
Seattle’s City Council passed an ordinance (CB 120511) prohibiting discrimination in various arenas, including employment and housing, based on caste, which it defines as “a system of rigid social stratification characterized by hereditary status, endogamy, and social barriers sanctioned by custom, law, or religion.” Some colleges have banned such discrimination, but Seattle is the first city to officially do so. (SHRM, SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL)
Legislation (SB 66) signed into law last May by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) established a one-year lookback window for adult victims of sexual assaults—including those that occurred in the workplace—to file civil claims against their abusers regardless of when the assaults happened. The window opened six months after the measure’s enactment, meaning the lookback period won’t end until November. (SHRM, NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, STATE NET)
In January Illinois lawmakers passed and sent a bill (SB 208) to Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) that would grant workers in the state at least 40 hours of paid leave each year. Pritzker said he would sign the measure.
Minnesota’s House has passed a bill (HB 19) that would give workers 48 hours of paid medical leave each year. Another bill (HB 2) under consideration in the chamber would grant workers up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave each year. (PLURIBUS NEWS, ILLINOIS GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, STATE NET)
The Virginia Workers Compensation Commission ruled that a worker injured while removing ice from his company truck at his home is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. The commission found that “the claimant’s workday began when he began preparing the company vehicle for operation, and he was in the course of the employment when he sustained his injuries.” (INSURANCE JOURNAL)
—Compiled by KOREY CLARK