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Recent Editions
Human Times
North America
A U.S. federal appeals court has refused to reinstate the Trump administration's proposed $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, ruling it was unlikely to overturn a lower court decision that the charge amounted to an unlawful tax without congressional approval. The administration introduced the fee to discourage employers from hiring foreign workers over Americans. The ruling by the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals leaves the injunction in place while legal proceedings continue, dealing a setback to the administration's immigration and labor policy. Trump, when imposing the new fee, said the H-1B program "has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor."
Full Issue
Human Times
UK
The Fair Work Agency is stepping up enforcement against employers that underpay wages, holiday pay and sick pay. Established this year, the regulator combines enforcement with support for businesses to improve compliance, while targeting rogue employers through fines, legal action and potential director bans. "We want workers to know what their rights are and how to get support. We want businesses to feel that compliance is simpler and easier to achieve and that they're treated fairly," Lisa Pinney, the agency's chief executive, said. "And we want to underpin that by being able to demonstrate really strong action against those who set out to exploit workers or to undercut legitimate business." The agency is also working with other regulators to tackle labour exploitation, modern slavery and "phoenix" companies that evade debts by repeatedly entering insolvency.
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Human Times
Europe
Swiss chocolatier Lindt has been sued in a US federal court over allegations that it misled consumers by claiming it was committed to eliminating child labour from its cocoa supply chain while knowingly sourcing cocoa produced using child labour in Ghana and Ivory Coast. The lawsuit, filed by International Rights Advocates, alleges the company has been aware of the issue for more than 20 years and seeks to stop the alleged misleading practices, but does not seek damages. Lindt has denied the allegations, saying it strongly condemns child labour, has supplier protocols in place, and systematically investigates suspected cases in its supply chain. The company also pointed to its 2030 Sustainability Plan and Modern Slavery Statement, which outline measures to support cocoa farmers and reduce child labour risks.
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Human Times
Middle East
Uber has cut 10% of jobs within its customer service operations team, saying it is working “to simplify operations, strengthen in-person collaboration, and continue to embrace AI.” Employees who had been working remotely for the team were also asked to relocate to a hub office, consistent with the company’s return-to-office mandate, an Uber spokesperson said. “Our organisation has become too complex and siloed,” Megha Yethadka, Uber’s vice president of global community operations, wrote in a memo. She said the department “has made some strides” in using AI, “but to unlock this potential, we need an effective organisation to layer AI on. We cannot scale frontier technology on top of fragmented processes.”
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