Workers | featured news

With its long vacations, short hours and myriad workers' rights, France has a reputation for being a hard place to do business. Now add this to the mix: A law working its way through parliament would grant amnesty to workers who have ransacked their company's offices or threatened their bosses during a labor dispute.

Business and labor groups announced agreement Thursday on the principles of a new system to bring lower-skilled workers to the U.S, a key priority for a comprehensive immigration bill.

The New Jersey Senate is set to vote on a bill that would prevent employers from seeking access to an employee's or job applicant's social media accounts.

President Barack Obama isn't talking about it and neither is Mitt Romney. But come January, 163 million workers can expect to feel the pinch of a big tax increase regardless of who wins the election....

Compensation for workers in the Washington region rose 2.1 percent in 2012 after remaining virtually flat the previous year, a new survey shows. The median salary increase was the largest the area has seen since 2010, according to data compiled by consulting firm Akron on behalf of the Human Resource Association of the National Capital Area, but still fell short of the region’s 3.2 rate of inflation in 2011.

Google treats its dead employees better than some companies do their living workers. Google's unusual "death benefits" include paying the deceased's spouse or domestic partner 50% of their salary for 10 years, the company's "chief people officer" Laszlo Bock revealed in an interview this week with Forbes.

U.S. companies got slightly more out of their workers this spring after scaling back on hiring. The modest 1.6 percent annualized gain in productivity from April through June signals employers may need to hire more if demand picks up.

These are anxious days for American workers. Many are underemployed. Others find pay that is simply not keeping up with their expenses.

General Motors will halt production of the Chevrolet Volt.The automaker has told 1,300 workers at its Detroit Hamtramck plant that they will be out of work for about five weeks.

House-Senate talks on renewing a payroll tax cut that delivers about $20 a week to the average worker yielded a tentative agreement Tuesday, with lawmakers planning to unveil the pact Wednesday and sending the measure to President Barack Obama as early as this week.