| It has become less common for companies to send their workers to off-the-job workplace training,
as only 6.9% of U.K. employees received said training in 2022, down
from approximately 10% a decade ago. The survey by Resolution
Foundation, an independent think-tank, also highlighted that lower-paid
workers were less likely to receive training. Walmart introduced a new perk — pickleball —
for its employees. The sport, which originally became popular among
seniors in retirement communities, has been gaining traction among the
wider population. This has prompted Walmart to partner with Break the Love,
an up-and-coming racquet sports booking platform, to offer its
employees comped reservations at pickleball venues across the U.S.
Employees at private educational services firms, those working for
the federal government, and health care & social assistance workers
were deemed the least likely to be laid off during a recession, according to a report by the Conference Board, Inc. The nonprofit think tank used six factors
to determine the risk levels of each job category, which were exposure
to labor shortages, sensitivity to monetary policy, job function and
education, pandemic recovery, labor demand gauge, and age composition
& experience. In the recent legal case of Seifu et al. v. Lyft,
the California Court of Appeal ruled that Lyft would not receive civil
penalties under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) of 2004 for
plaintiff Million Seifu's individual PAGA claim, but would have to work
with an arbitrator to settle the claim. The case
was centered on Seifu's assertion that he and other drivers
were misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees. The number of unfair labor charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board increased by 16%
during the first six months of fiscal 2023, which ran from October 1,
2022, through March 31, 2023. The spike in reports coupled with reduced staffing has created significant challenges for the regulator. The U.S. Department of Labor found that 40 out of 50 Los Angeles garment manufacturers inspected broke wage and hour laws. The regulator also discovered that more than half of the contractors paid workers off the books and falsified or did not provide records.
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