President Trump moves to fill two NLRB vacancies
On June 28 President Trump formally nominated both Marvin Kaplan and William Emmanuel to fill the two Republican vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board. At the present time, the NLRB has a 2-to-1 pro-union, Democratic majority. These two nominees, once confirmed, will then shift the Board to a 3-to-2 Republican majority.
MORENorth Carolina newspapers lose legislative presumption
Passage of a new bill removes a tremendous advantage North Carolina newspapers have enjoyed in Worker's Compensation litigation for nearly two decades.
The bill removes a legislative presumption of independent contractor status for newspaper carriers under the state's Workers' Compensation law.
MORE2017 Salary Survey available from SNPA
The results of the 2017 SNPA Salary Survey have been published.
For information about the study, please contact Cindy Durham in the SNPA office: cindy@snpa.org.
MOREMotivate your team with a self-perception assessment
Motivation Communications Associates provides a different approach to the standard performance appraisals through the use of its "Self-Perception Assessment." The "Self-Perception Assessment" method stands out from the usual assessment instruments in that it focuses on providing an analysis that is specific to the individual and certain situations.
MOREJudge's ruling a win for press freedom
I never imagined that my first Herald-Leader commentary would involve fighting for this newspaper's free-press protections. Yet it does.
Last Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Karen K. Caldwell, issued a momentous pro-First Amendment ruling in the lawsuit the Herald-Leader was forced to file against the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.
She stopped a new city-county ordinance that would have banned driveway distribution of free newspapers and other printed material from going into effect on May 1. City officials have not decided whether to appeal the decision. If they are wise stewards of precious tax dollars, they won't go down that road.
The ordinance, which includes a $200 penalty for each violation, is likely unconstitutional because it would have the effect of cutting off circulation of our free Community News.
MOREFederal judge halts enforcement of Lexington ordinance opposed by Herald-Leader
A federal judge has ruled that Lexington cannot enforce a recently passed ordinance that restricts where advertising and other unsolicited printed materials can be delivered.
U.S. District Court Judge Karen Caldwell ruled Friday that the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government cannot enforce the ordinance that was supposed to take effect Monday until a court case challenging the ordinance has been resolved.
MOREAlex Acosta confirmed as 27th U.S. Secretary of Labor
June 30 is the new due date for the Department of Labor's reply brief involving the overtime rule. With Alex Acosta now confirmed as secretary of labor, this should be the final due date.
MOREView early entries in the SNPA Photo/Video Contest
View early entries in the SNPA Photo / Video Contest at this link.
MOREFriday is deadline for all Salary Survey questionnaires
Last chance: All SNPA salary survey questionnaires must be returned to the SNPA office by Friday, May 26. Survey results will be released the first week of June to all participants.
MORENLRB independent contractor status update
The National Labor Relations Board has held that companies do not violate the National Labor Relations Act solely by misclassifying employees as independent contractors. Bottom line: the decision to classify an individual as an independent contractor rather than an employee will not, by itself, subject an employer to liability under the National Labor Relations Act.
MoreDevelop a plan now to address Department of Labor's proposed overtime rule
The U.S. Department of Labor's rule to increase the salary threshold for the overtime exemption of executive, administrative and professional employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act has not yet been finalized.
The March 7 proposed rule was open for comments for a 60-day period. The Department of Labor received more than 116,000 public comments. The Department of Labor sent its final draft of the rule to the White House and the Office of Management and Budget on Aug. 12. The text of the final rule has not been made public.
When the final rule is published with an effective date, many expect unions and worker advocates to mount legal challenges to the rule. Even though the final rule may be challenged, it would be wise to be developing a plan now to address this huge budgetary issue.
This column focuses on the standard salary threshold, which will have the most dramatic impact on your company, and offers an action plan to address the standard salary threshold increase.
MoreSNPA / Inland Merger: Looking ahead to preserving and promoting First Amendment values
As we celebrate joining together SNPA and Inland, it is worth at least a moment to honor the first principles of the newspaper industry that gave rise to both groups. And those, without a doubt, are freedom of the press and the parallel right to know and to distribute news.
Honoring those principles requires some reflection on the industry's singular role in building America's First Amendment foundation. And it is safe to say that SNPA's and Inland's member newspapers can fairly take credit for shaping the free speech and free press tradition of the republic like no other industry and, for that matter, like no other country on earth.
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