Trump-Appointed Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Biden Abortion Rule for Employers in Two States

David Joseph

A judge on Monday temporarily blocked a federal rule in two southern states that would have required employers to provide time off and accommodations for employees seeking abortions.

U.S. District Court Judge David Joseph, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, issued an order preventing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from enforcing a rule in Mississippi and Louisiana that would require employers to provide abortion accommodations though stopped short of issuing a broader national injunction, per court filings. The rule was scheduled to take effect on Tuesday and would have dictated that abortions be included under the definition of “pregnancy, childbirth or related medical considerations,” thereby requiring that employers with at least 15 employees provide time off to their workers for abortions and related recovery.

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Texas Sues Biden over ‘Gender Identity’ Guidance in Workplace

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued three federal agencies Tuesday to “stop an unlawful attempt to redefine federal law through agency guidance” that mandates “gender identity” accommodation in the workplace.

Paxton sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and other federal officials to block April 29 EEOC guidance that redefines the meaning of “sex” in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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Americans are Getting Poorer While Prices Keep Going Up

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Americans’ real weekly earnings dropped sharply in April and still remain well below their level when President Joe Biden first took office, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Real average weekly earnings fell to $1,191.93 in April, declining by 0.4% in the month and 4.8% compared to the start of Biden’s term in January 2021, according to data calculated by the Daily Caller News Foundation from the BLS. Prices have risen over 19% since Biden first took office and 3.4% in the last year, degrading the value of Americans’ wages.

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Majority of Small Businesses Say Colleges are Failing to Prepare Gen Z for the Workplace, Survey Shows

A recent survey conducted by RedBalloon and PublicSquare found that a majority of small businesses believe colleges are failing to prepare Gen Z for the workforce and that nearly half of small businesses said that a college degree has zero value in their hiring decisions.

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Job Cuts Soar as Employers Look for Ways to Lower Costs

Frustrated Worker

The number of job cuts by American employers surged in January as companies looked to lower operating costs to adjust to harsh economic conditions, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc.

The number of positions cut by employers in January jumped 136%, with 82,307 positions cut compared to the 34,817 cut in December, according to a report from Challenger, Gray and Christmas. The job cuts come amid a wider U.S. layoff trend due to broader economic struggles, like inflation and adjustments from automation.

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Biden Admin Releases New Labor Rule Cracking Down on Independent Contractors

Remote Worker

The Department of Labor announced Tuesday the final version of a rule that will force companies to recognize some workers as employees instead of independent contractors.

The new rule goes into effect on March 11 and rescinds a previous rule establishing independent contractors as a separate class of workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act that was put in place in January 2021 under the Trump administration, according to the DOL release. The rule could raise labor costs by up to 30% for employers who utilize independent contractors, such as app-based services like Uber or Lyft, which offer a freelancing model, as employers would have to adhere to minimum wage and overtime laws, according to Reuters.

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