Three Adjustments to Make for the DOL Overtime Rule
The U.S. Department of Labor's new overtime rule went into effect July 1 raising the minimum salary threshold for overtime from $35,568 to $43,888.
Almost every workplace should be prepared with needed adjustments, but there are still a few actions HR should undertake if they haven’t to protect their organizations, Victoria Lipnic, partner at Resolution Economics and former EEOC commissioner, and Jonathan Segal, partner at Duane Morris LLP, said at a panel on June 24 at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference. READ MORE.
Supply Chain Trends 2024: Rising Operations Costs
Rising costs were a top challenge for manufacturers in 2023 — and this year looks to be no different.
Inflation caused prices to spike for not only materials, but wages and energy. And while inflation has cooled in recent months and prices have started to stabilize, the issue of how to mitigate high costs remains a key priority for companies at the start of the year.
This balance has been difficult for manufacturers, as low demand remained a consistent drag on the industry and has caused more companies to cut both supply and labor costs and lower production. Read More.
NAM, Partners Urge Administration to Withdraw “March-in” Proposal
If finalized, guidance proposed last year by the Biden administration to allow the federal government to seize manufacturers’ intellectual property rights would be ruinous to the U.S. innovation economy, the NAM and state partners told Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo this week.
In December, the Biden administration issued a proposal to enable government agencies to “march in” and revoke companies’ patent exclusivity if a product’s development was funded in any part by federal research dollars.
Under the proposal, the government’s decision of whether to march in would be based on a product’s price—effectively imposing government-mandated price controls on innovative products like clean energy solutions, next-generation semiconductors and lifesaving medicines.
The NAM and a coalition of regional and state manufacturing associations are pushing back, highlighting the importance of ironclad IP rights to groundbreaking innovation.
“[T]urning groundbreaking R&D into innovative products for the American people is only possible if creators—from university researchers to early-stage entrepreneurs to established businesses—can rely on strong intellectual property protections,” the associations told Raimondo.
Startups and small businesses would pay the heaviest toll if the new march-in standards are finalized.
Scientists and researchers at universities nationwide will face difficulties in partnering with the industry and in founding startups based on their research, “strik[ing] a blow to the local economies in [all 50] states that depend on university-centered innovation hubs for job creation and economic growth.”
If a promising idea makes it out of the lab, outside investors will be reluctant to inject the capital necessary for further R&D and product development—resulting in fewer life-changing and lifesaving products for the American people.
Manufacturers are calling on the Biden administration to reverse course. “We urge you to protect our local, state and regional economies, which benefit from breakthrough research, entrepreneurship and modern manufacturing, by withdrawing the proposed march-in guidance.”
Manufacturers Launch Campaign to Prevent Tax Increases:
A new tax campaign intends to lean in on the manufacturing advantage—to fight for manufacturers’ tax priorities.
Since 2017, CMA partners and the NAM have worked together to secure tax gains on behalf of manufacturers. The critical reforms made through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will expire at the end of 2025. Our Manufacturing Wins campaign is designed to ensure that Congress preserves the 2017 tax reforms in its entirety to avoid significant economic damage in the manufacturing sector and across the broader economy. Read More.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Releases New Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act Resources
The U.S Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) enforces the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended (VEVRAA). Under VEVRAA, federal contractors and subcontractors are prohibited from engaging in discrimination in employment practices against veterans and required to provide equal employment opportunity in recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining protected veterans. Read More.
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