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The Latest Government Tool…

November 2, 2016

The Latest Government Tool Employers Need To Be Aware Of

Despite the obvious possibilities for jokes in the title, this post has nothing to do with Anthony Weiner.

The US Department of Labor just released a new beta website called Worker.gov. It’s basically a single source website for workers to find out if they believe that they have been the victim of any workplace violations by their employer and then to potentially file charges with multiple agencies simultaneously. The site is a joint effort of the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Here’s the message to workers:

You have rights. We’ll help you exercise them. This site is dedicated to the needs of workers and is designed to improve based on your input.

Here’s the more typical agency mission statement:

We are responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.

There is a great summary article on the National Law Review website by Keith J. Brodie of the law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP that outlines how Worker.gov operates in detail.

The website targets the following broad categories of rights: the right to be treated equally; the right to engage with others to improve wages and working conditions; the right to have a safe and healthy environment; and the right to be paid. Under each of these categories appear a series of questions and scenarios an employee can click through.

This is something CUE members and other employers should be paying attention to.