November 12, 2025 Manoa, HI — Researchers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Oregon State University will partner to create best safety practices “based on the nature and stresses of small construction businesses.”   Funded by a grant from the nonprofit Job-Site Safety Institute, the project “embeds researchers directly within real jobsites.” The goal: to produce a guide encompassing best practices, training and behavioral interventions for construction operations wit

November 11, 2025 On November 5, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published guidance giving employers a break from penalties for new reporting requirements under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s (OBBBA) provision regarding taxes on employee tips and overtime pay. Under the provision, for tax years 2025 -2028, employees may take an above-the-line tax deduction on qualified overtime pay and qualified tips. To help accomplish this, employers must report the total amount of qua

November 6, 2025 On November 5, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued guidance confirming employers will not be penalized for failing to report cash tips and overtime compensation in the manner required in the latest federal budget reconciliation bill. This guidance may be especially relevant to employers in the entertainment, hospitality, restaurant, and tourism industries.   Quick Hits New guidance from the Treasury Departme

November 6, 2025 Even as Gov. Ron DeSantis has pushed for Florida to be the most aggressive state in assisting the federal government with immigration enforcement, state law still allows hundreds of thousands of companies to skip doing an E-Verify check.   In Florida, private companies with fewer than 25 employees don't need to use the federal database that confirms an employee's immigration status. On Wednesday, a state House committee moved forward a bill that would require

November 4, 2025 Milwaukee — More than half of workers think safety takes a back seat to profits at their current job, results of a recent survey show.   Brady, an industrial and safety printing systems and solutions company, asked 1,000 adult workers about both physical safety concerns on the job (such as building security, emergency preparedness and equipment hazards) and psychological safety concerns (including harassment, stress and trust in management).   Results show th

November 3, 2025 New study finds help from immediate colleagues may not be the best source of support Support from immediate colleagues during a setback or mistake at work may not always be the best help, a new study has found, which warned about its potential impact on overall engagement. Researchers from the University of Maryland ran a seven-week survey among working professionals to determine their reactions during setbacks where they felt they had lost the respect and ad

October 31, 2025 Air pollution can make workplaces more dangerous, according to scientists from Yonsei University.   Analyzing 5,873 safety liability accidents in China over 20 years, the researchers found that doubling PM2.5 concentrations led to a 2.6-fold increase in accident probability, 37 percent more deaths, and 51 percent more casualties.   The findings highlight a critical but overlooked dimension of air pollution’s social and economic burden, the researchers said. W

October 30, 2025 Many workplace injuries remain preventable, and Pie Insurance’s 2025 State of Workplace Safety report highlights the most bizarre injuries reported by the 1,018 U.S. small businesses surveyed earlier this year.   The data showed that 75 percent of small businesses reported workplace injuries within the past year, and nearly half (49 percent) admitted to improvising safety measures due to a lack of proper equipment.   The most common injuries reported were men

October 29, 2025 On October 16, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that three insurance adjusters had been misclassified as independent contractors because, based on a complete analysis of the reality of the adjusters’ working relationship with two insurance companies, a jury could reasonably find that the adjusters were employees.      In so doing, the Eleventh Circuit reiterated for lower courts the importance of thoroughly analyzing the economic

October 29, 2025 Washington — Frontline employees consistently rate their workplaces’ musculoskeletal disease prevention efforts less favorably than safety leaders do, according to a new report from the National Safety Council.   Issued by NSC’s MSD Solutions Lab, Frontline Workers’ Perspectives on Musculoskeletal Disorder Prevention is based on survey data from 1,000 nonmanagerial employees across diverse industries.   MSDs include tendinitis, back strains and sprains, and c

October 28, 2025 Taking leave for health reasons should make employees feel better but new figures show that is not the case for some workers on leave. Employers and their teams are not seeing eye-to-eye when it comes to employees' leave experiences, according to a new report, which underscored that the disconnect should put organizations "on alert."   Findings from The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America survey revealed that nearly eight in ten US employers rate the e

October 27, 2025 A new report finds that a positive leave experience boosts employee morale and loyalty, according to Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.   According to “The Employee Leave Experience,” employees who report a pleasant leave experience are two times as likely to say their employer cares about their well-being.   The report analyzed employers’ and employees’ attitudes around the leave experience, including sick leave, vacation leave, mental health days,