Nebraska SHRM – Legislative Director Update April 13th, 2017

April 13, 2017 Update

As a reminder, the legislative session is scheduled to end on June 2nd, 2017.  Above is also a brief article prepared summarizing LB 203 signed by the Governor.  This bill changes, in some respects, the calculation and payment of unemployment compensation.

The following are some other notable changes:

  • On April 7th the Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by a vote of 54 to 45.
  • On April 5th the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing examining H.R. 1180, the “Working Families Flexibility Act of 2017.”   This bill amend the FLSA to permit employers to offer compensatory time off instead of time-and-a half wages for all hours worked in excess of 40 per week.  The measure would allow for a voluntary agreement between the employer and worker on comp time and would allow an employee to earn up to 160 hours of time off that can be used at his or her discretion.
  • Although it is not a surprise, the USCIS announced this week that it has reached the H-1B cap for fiscal year 2018 – both the regular cap and “master’s” cap
  • OSHA launched a campaign to prevent falls in the construction industry.   You can read more here:  http://www.jacksonlewis.com/publication/osha-launches-campaign-prevent-falls-construction-industry