Category: Paychecks & Work
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Federal projections show office and clerical work losing 752,100 jobs by 2035, with AI named as a driver
A new 10-year forecast from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts a specific number on a trend office workers have been hearing about for years: artificial intelligence and automation are projected to shrink demand for administrative jobs more than any other line of work in the economy. The projection, covering 2025 through 2035, forecasts…
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Only 38.6 percent of displaced workers 65 and older found new work, and nearly half stopped looking
The newest federal snapshot of layoffs makes one thing plain: age is one of the biggest predictors of whether someone gets back to work after losing a job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that among long-tenured workers pushed out of a job between 2023 and 2025, only 38.6 percent of those 65 and older…
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Layoffs and closings displaced 7.4 million workers over three years, up 1.2 million from the prior survey
New federal data released this week puts a hard number on something many households have felt directly: losing a job is no longer a rare event. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 7.4 million American workers lost jobs to layoffs, plant closings, or abolished positions over the three years from January 2023 through…
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American Airlines will pay $200,000 after firing an employee who lost her sight
American Airlines will pay $200,000 to settle a federal lawsuit accusing the carrier of refusing to help a Fort Worth reservations employee keep working after she lost her sight. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the airline kept the worker on unpaid, involuntary leave for almost four years after she developed cortical blindness…
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Kroger will pay $75,000 to a cashier it turned away over nerve damage
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says a national grocery chain will pay $75,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing it of shutting out a cashier who asked for a place to sit. The worker, a breast cancer survivor whose treatment left her with permanent nerve damage in her legs, asked only for a stool during…
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The salary line for guaranteed overtime pay is back down to $35,568
A federal salary line that determines whether a company can legally treat an executive, administrative, or professional employee as exempt from overtime pay is back at $684 a week, or $35,568 a year, after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division restored that figure on May 15, 2026. The move ends an 18-month…
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The government just erased 178,000 private-sector jobs from its count through March
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ running count of private-sector jobs through March 2026 was too high by 178,000, the agency disclosed on August 28, 2026, in a preliminary revision to its Current Employment Statistics program. Total nonfarm employment for that same month, once government hiring is folded back in, was overstated by 79,000. The gap…
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Severance pay is not required by federal law unless a contract or policy promises it
Many laid-off workers assume severance is a legal right. It is not. No federal law requires an employer to pay severance at all, and when it is paid, it comes from a contract, a company policy, or a negotiated agreement rather than a statute. Knowing that changes how a worker should approach a layoff, because…
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Misclassifying employees as contractors can leave a company owing back overtime, the Labor Department says
Getting a 1099 instead of a W-2 does not automatically make someone an independent contractor, and the difference is worth real money. When a company wrongly labels an employee as a contractor, the Labor Department says the worker may be owed back overtime, minimum wage, and other protections they were denied. For a lot of…
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Some workers who quit for good cause, such as unsafe conditions, can still collect unemployment
A common belief keeps people from claiming money they may be owed: the idea that quitting a job always disqualifies you from unemployment benefits. It does not. In many states, a worker who leaves for a compelling, work-related reason, such as unsafe conditions or an employer breaking the terms of the job, can still collect.…