Employment Stats 8/20/09

Weekly Jobless Claims (Seasonally Adjusted), Week Ending 8/15 (reported 8/20) 576,000
Weekly Jobless Claims Change from Previous Week (seasonally adjusted) 15,000
Payroll Employment (Nonfarm Jobs Created or Lost), July -247,000
Unemployment Rate, July 9.4 percent

HR Guidance for Responding to H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released guidance to help employers prepare for and respond to both seasonal flu and H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) during the upcoming flu season.

The guidance includes actions employers should take now, important elements of a flu preparedness plan, and recommended responses for the flu season. The guidance includes additional strategies to use if flu conditions become more severe and some new recommendations regarding when a worker who is ill with influenza may return to work. HR.BLR.com

HR by Twitter
BreakingPoint Systems, a company that provides tools for testing computer networks, could have run an ad: "Seeking marketing director with social media expertise." Instead, the 65-employee business, based in Austin, let the ideal candidate find it by using Twitter, the popular microblogging service that allows users to send messages of no more than 140 characters. CNN Money

NFL Team Settles Disability-Bias Lawsuit
The St. Louis Rams have agreed to pay $134,000 to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity lawsuit accusing the team of discriminating against an employee with a seizure disorder. HR.BLR.com

Study finds people who multitask often bad at it
The people who multitask the most are the ones who are worst at it. That's the surprising conclusion of researchers at Stanford University, who found multitaskers are more easily distracted and less able to ignore irrelevant information than people who do less multitasking.

"The huge finding is, the more media people use the worse they are at using any media. We were totally shocked," Clifford Nass, a professor at Stanford's communications department, said in a telephone interview. Associated Press

USPS Offers Buyouts to 30,000 Workers
The U.S. Postal Service, looking for new ways to stem steep financial losses, said Tuesday it will offer incentive buyout programs to postal employees in an effort to cut up to 30,000 workers and $500 million from its payroll.

"This decision reflects our desire to provide a fair and equitable opportunity for some of our longest-serving employees," said Anthony Vegliante, chief human resources officer and executive vice president. "It is important to the Postal Service that we take appropriate measures to address our current financial situation." The Journal of Commerce

Reader's Digest plans prearranged bankruptcy
Reader's Digest Association Inc, whose namesake magazine has been a staple of dentists' offices for generations, said on Monday it planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its U.S. businesses as part of a prearranged plan with lenders to cut debt by 75 percent. Reuters

Vault's Layoff Tracker
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