Labor Department proposes heat safety rule
Under a Labor Department proposal announced on Tuesday, employers would be required to provide rest breaks and access to shade and clean water for their workers as a shield against extreme heat. If finalized, the proposed regulation would be the first federal safety standard for excessive heat in the workplace and would cover 36 million workers.
Jobs recovery is spotty in rural counties
Only 43 percent of rural counties have the same number of jobs, or more, as they had before the pandemic, said the Daily Yonder, based on an analysis of Labor Department data. Recovery was strongest in counties on the fringes of metropolitan area and weakest in counties the furthest from town.
U.S. ‘stabilizes’ H-2A pay rates at 2020 level through 2022
Minimum pay rates for most agricultural guest workers will remain at this year’s levels through 2022 under a regulation announced by the Labor Department on Tuesday. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the regulation demonstrated “President Trump’s commitment to America’s farmers by …
Labor Department would go digital with H-2A paperwork
The Labor Department on Monday proposed mandatory electronic filing of job orders and applications for the H-2A agricultural guest worker program, and would change the methods used to determine pay rates for the seasonal workers. Growers have relied increasingly on the guest worker program …
A sticky proposal to give Colorado sheepherders a pay raise
The sheep industry in Colorado girded for "a storm" after the Labor Department proposed tripling the minimum pay for the sheepherders who spent weeks at a time on the range, say KUNC-FM and Rocky Mountain PBS.
Two of three rural counties gained jobs in past year
"Two out of every three rural counties gained jobs between June 2014 and June of this year," reports the Daily Yonder, drawing on data released by the Labor Department.
Rural unemployment rate is down
"Job gains in rural America have returned," says the Daily Yonder, citing Labor Department data that show there were 232,000 more jobs in rural counties than one year earlier.
Labor Dept drops Oregon “hot goods” case against growers
The Labor Department dropped all charges against two Oregon growers that it accused of failing to pay the minimum wage to 1,000 workers, says the news site FairWarning.
Heating up over “hot goods” cases in agriculture
"An attempted crackdown on minimum wage and child labor violations at berry farms in the Pacific Northwest has sparked a backlash that threatens one of the U.S. Labor Department’s most potent tools for enforcing protections for farm workers," writes Bridget Huber at the news site FairWarning.