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The Department of Labor has finally issued it's report on comment is invited on the Family and Medical Leave Act in December, 2006.  The DOL received over 15,000 comments.  According to the DOL's press release: "The 15,000 comments from workers,... No comments

A big week for the U.S. Supreme Court with five rulings involving free speech, religion and campaign finance. On Lawyer 2 Lawyer, we discuss them and look ahead to upcoming SUPCO action. Join co-hosts and Law.com bloggers J. Craig Williams and Robert Ambrogi with the experts: Tony Mauro, Supreme Court correspondent for Legal Times, American Lawyer Media, and Law.com and Amy Howe, Partner at Howe & Russell P.C in Washington D.C. and regular contributor to and editor of SCOTUSblog. Don’t miss it! No comments

The Employee Free Choice Act met it's demise at the hands of Senate Republicans this week.  The Act would have eliminated secret ballot elections for union elections.  It should be interesting to see what happens in future legislative sessions when... No comments

Paid family leave has gained steam in a number of states.  The FMLA blog notes that several states have enacted legislation or have pending legislation - notably California, Washington, New Jersey and New York.  The New York proposal was passed... No comments

Want to hire cheaper foreign workers instead of Americans? A lawyer tells you how to game the immigration system—and it’s all on YouTube!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx–jNQYNgA

The video looks as though it could have been shot at almost any sleepy corporate seminar in the country, with one camera panning between a man in a suit and tie standing at a podium and others seated nearby. But the dialogue is riveting: It’s a group of lawyers openly discussing strategies for helping their clients pretend that they’re trying to recruit American workers—as required by law—while they, in fact, hire cheaper foreign workers. 

“[O]ur goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker,” says Lawrence Lebowitz, director of marketing for the Pittsburgh law firm Cohen & Grigsby, before an audience of employers at the firm’s conference. The seminar provides details on how employers can meet the government’s requirements for the Permanent Labor Certificate program (PERM), which lets employers sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency if they can demonstrate no U.S. worker can fill a job. The trick, according to Cohen & Grigsby attorneys, is to only go through the motions of hiring Americans without ever intending to.

The video, which has been posted on YouTube (GOOG), is now sparking a sharp backlash. On June 21, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Representative Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) fired off a letter to Cohen & Grigsby demanding an explanation for its advice, as well as going so far as to ask for the names of its clients. “Your firm’s video advises employers how to hire only foreign labor, while making it nearly impossible for a qualified American worker to get a job,” they wrote. “We look forward to hearing from you on how such advice is ethical and does not undermine the programs by enticing fraud and misuse.” (See the lawmakers’ letter here.) A public relations firm representing Cohen & Grigsby did not return phone calls seeking comment.

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Everyone knows that the workplace is always full of situations where people often have difficulty getting along, where someone has been wronged, or where someone feels slighted in some way.  Carrie Mason-Draffen, as Newsday reporter, has written a column for... No comments

On March 16, 2007, Ontario-based Menu Foods recalled more than 60 million cans and pouches of pet food that it marketed under a variety of brand names. Many pets across the States became ill or even died. Join Law.com blogggers and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi as they discuss the pet food recall, the lawsuits and class actions filed against the distributor, product liability and property damage and the significance of pets in our society. Lawyer 2 Lawyer welcomes Attorney Jay Edelson, partner at the firm Blim & Edelson LLC out of Chicago, who filed one of the first class actions involving the contaminated pet food crisis and Attorney Bruce Wagman, partner with the firm Schiff Hardin LLP in San Francisco and Chief Outside Litigation Counsel of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Don’t miss it! No comments

As a lawyer for some of the top private security companies operating alongside U.S. troops in Iraq, a big part of Crowell & Moring partner David Hammond's job is monitoring the growing outrage over those companies' alleged abuses. At least 15 personal injury, wrongful death and product liability cases have been filed, and federal investigators estimate that some $10 billion has been squandered or gone unaccounted for by private companies. So as the war in Iraq drags on, Hammond's practice has grown. No comments

In a case pitting Russian conglomerate Alfa Group Consortium against a Bermuda investment vehicle, IPOC International Growth Fund Limited, the prize was a stake in Russian cell phone operator OAO MegaFon worth up to $2.5 billion. The case was rife with allegations of spy-like tactics, but the arbitration will be remembered as the first where arbitrators evaluated a party's criminality. A Zurich panel found that IPOC was a vessel for Russia's minister of telecommunications to launder stolen money. No comments

Few other administrative functions can directly impact a firm's bottom line as powerfully as procurement, says White & Case administrative partner Karen Asner. When managed effectively, procurement can deliver substantial benefits: expense savings, service enhancements, improved vendor relationships and utilization of advanced technologies to analyze and track firm spending. Asner explains the often-misunderstood role of procurement and how you can use it to best benefit your law firm. No comments