Dulles Chapter Diversity/Workforce Education Director Evelyn Kaiser presents our March community assistance organization, the Office of Continuing Education, Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC), Annandale. Program Manager Felecia Blakeney will discuss Occupational Spanish and the Technology Retraining internship Program (TRiP).

Status

The Department of Labor (DOL) has drafted final regulations defining the white-collar exemptions from Federal minimum wage and overtime requirements. The final regulations revise the definitions of executive, administrative, and professional employees and which should be exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The DOL is working toward publication by March 31.

The business community says the revisions are long overdue and essential to adapt the 1938 law to present standards. Leading Democrats in the House and Senate and organized labor organizations fear it will deprive millions of Americans the right to overtime pay.

Once the regulations are finalized and published in the Federal Register, SHRM anticipates several moves by legislators and lobbyists to block the new rules. These could include amendments introduced by Democratic leaders, including Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy, and the invoking of the Congressional Review Act. To take effect and block the rules, the act must be approved by both houses of Congress and signed by the President. The Bush administration supports the revised overtime rules.

Implementation

The DOL may ask for a possible effective date of 90 to 120 days from the release of the new regulations. SHRM reports that it could be several months or a year before the rules will take effect, if opponents continue to try to block the rules.

The DOL plans to educate employers and employees about the changes in the regulations. On the final day the regulations are published, basic information --- including fact sheets and a comparison of the major differences between the proposed and final regulations --- will appear on the agency’s website (http://www.wagehour.dol.gov/). The DOL’s Office of Compliance Assistance will support the education effort. Wage and Hour Administrator Tammy McCutchen says “it’s a really good time to be looking at whether you are in compliance now.”

Advocacy

SHRM encourages us to educate our legislators regarding changes to FLSA. Sample letters and e-mails are provided at the SHRM Governmental Affairs website (www.shrm.org/government). Around release time, anticipated to be March 31, SHRM will provide talking points for calling in to legislators’ offices. HR professionals are encouraged to communicate and share their personal stories regarding FLSA.

Jackson Lewis LLP, the nation’s leading law firm representing management exclusively in employment and labor matters, is pleased to announce the inaugural Workplace Law Breakfast Series: Critical Issues in Employment Law to the greater D.C. metropolitan area.

The workshop series began this month. Four interactive workshops remain in the series:

• Untangling the Web of the ADA, FMLA, and Workers’ Compensation (March 23, 2004)
• Approaches to Creating an Effective and Committed Human Resources Team (April 27, 2004)

Workshops are held at the Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. The registration fee is $50 for each remaining session, which includes continental breakfast and program materials. Join for one workshop or the remaining workshops in the series. Each workshop has been approved for 1.5 HRCI recertification credits, and Virginia CLE Credit is pending.

With the surge over the past decade in the Hispanic population in the United States, speaking Spanish is becoming more of a necessity than a choice in many parts of the country.

“There is nothing foreign about Spanish any more. It is the second language of the United States,” says Sam Slick who founded Command Spanish®, Inc.,” the second largest firm specializing in teaching Spanish for the workplace.

At Northern Virginia Community College, we use the Command Spanish® Language training method to accommodate the needs of specific professions. The program is designed to provide non-Spanish-speaking professionals with functional skills in Spanish. The methodology uses phonetic encoding to address important Spanish commands, questions, and phrases which are critical to specific professions:

· Automobile sales and service
· Child care facilities
· International travel
· Law enforcement
· Nursing
· Physician’s office
· Requesting personal information and data
· School administrators, teachers, and support staff
· Secretaries and receptionists
· Supervisors of Spanish-speaking employees

The Command Spanish® instructional system incorporates the following 10 elements:

· Work-specific language
· Non-grammar based materials
· Phonetic encoding
· Generic Spanish
· One-way communication
· Control questions
· Zero-stress classrooms
· Maintenance tapes
· Holistic instructional modes
· Qualified instructors

This training is available for contract training. Open enrollment courses are offered on a limited basis.

Begin Your IT Career With TRiP!

For employers with staff considering a career change to information technology who do not have the necessary computer skills to make the transition, TRiP may be the program of choice.

Northern Virginia Community College’s (NVCCC) Technology Retaining internship Program (TRiP) is a part-time intensive training program designed to equip experienced professionals from non-IT fields with basic technical skills and some advanced computer competencies. The goal is to produce employees prepared for entry-level IT employment through a combination of classroom instruction and optional on-the-job training. The first portion of the program is devoted solely to computer training, while the second portion is directed toward optional part-time internships.

For more information on Occupational Spanish and on TRiP, contact Felecia Blakeney at (703) 323-3102 or email fblakeney@nvcc.edu .