Articles for May 2007 House Introduces Immigration Reform Bill - On March 22, Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
House Introduces Immigration Reform Bill On March 22, Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007, or STRIVE Act, is the first version of immigration reform legislation to be introduced in the 110th Congress. While the STRIVE Act contains several major components aimed at reforming the current immigration system. First and foremost, the legislation establishes an electronic employment verification system that will be rolled out over a period of six years, starting with large companies. The STRIVE Act also creates a guest worker program for future immigrant workers, and their spouses and children, by establishing the H-2C visa. The visa, which would be valid for three years and renewable for another three, has an initial annual cap of 400,000. The cap would be adjusted yearly based on market fluctuations. Before using this new visa program, employers must attempt to hire U.S. workers by first offering the job to any eligible U.S. worker who applies, is qualified for the job, and is available. The STRIVE Act also creates a new visa for undocumented immigrants and their spouses and children in the U.S., which would be valid for six years. It provides qualified undocumented immigrants and their spouses and children with an opportunity to apply for lawful permanent resident status and eventual citizenship. Finally, the bill would increase the H-1B cap to 115,000 per year, starting in this fiscal year of 2007. Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ), coauthors of the immigration bill introduced in the Senate last year, continue to work on their version of comprehensive immigration reform. A Senate bill may be introduced in the next few weeks. Source: Toby Malara, American Staffing Association - Back to Top -
Talent Shortages a Widespread Problem Employers worldwide say they are having difficulty filling positions because of a lack of available talent. They especially are looking for salespeople, teachers, and mechanics, according to a recent survey by an ASA member company. Some 41 percent of the 37,000 employers polled across 27 countries reported difficulties in filling positions in 2007—an increase of 1% over the previous year. The percentage of U.S. companies reporting those same difficulties mirrored the global rate. The surveying company’s white paper, Confronting the Talent Crunch: 2007, states "unprecedented demographic shifts will be exacerbated by a talent crunch that threatens to stall the engines of economic growth." The use of flexible talent is one way employers can combat shortages and "accommodate variability in demand," reports the ASA member company. According to the staffing firm's survey, today's larger companies are already in-the-know about the benefits of temporary employment—they engage "contingent labor" regularly and strategically to promote "work force optimization." This is true of companies of various sizes and sectors: According to an ASA survey of staffing clients, about half of the companies polled said "their use of temporary and contract employees is an important part of their company's business model."Source: Reem El-Khatib, American Staffing Association - Back to Top -
DOL Clarifies ‘Outside Sales’ Exemption The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued three opinion letters addressing when employees can qualify for the Fair Labor Standards Act "outside sales" exemption. Qualifying would make these employees exempt from the act's minimum wage and overtime requirements. An employee can be an exempt outside salesperson if two conditions are met: The employee's primary duty is making sales or obtaining orders or contracts for services, and the employee customarily is engaged away from the employer's place or places of business. Traditionally, employers have had difficulty interpreting the term "primary duty" and determining the frequency with which an employee must render services outside the office in order to be exempt. The DOL opinion letters attempt to address these issues. Regarding the primary duty requirement, DOL noted that work that is incidental to and performed in conjunction with an outside employee's sales generally will be regarded as exempt work. It stated that, for example, phone calls, e-mails, and client meetings in the office can be considered exempt activities if they are incidental to, or are performed in conjunction with, the employee's own outside sales activities. Additionally, DOL's regulations provide that other work—such as writing sales reports, updating catalogs, and attending sales conferences—can be exempt so long as such work actually furthers the employee's sales efforts. Regarding the frequency of outside sales activities, DOL's regulations provide that "customarily" means greater than occasionally but less than constantly. Outside sales activities include work that is normally and recurrently performed every workweek but does not include isolated or one-time tasks. In its opinion letters, DOL made clear that, while outside sales activities must be recurring events, there is no minimum number of hours an employee must engage in outside sales activities to qualify for the exemption. Rather, to determine whether an employee is exempt, DOL will examine the frequency of the relevant events and examine the nature of the work when the number of weekly hours spent outside the office is generally low. You can read the opinion letters on the DOL Web site, dol.gov and select FLSA 2006-11, FLSA 2007-1, and FLSA 2007-2. Source: Stephen Dwyer, American Staffing Association 
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