In its ceaseless quest to protect us from ourselves, Congress in 2009 compelled credit card companies to confirm an applicant’s “ability to pay” before approving an account. Lawmakers evidently believe that Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and the like somehow lack incentive to manage their own credit risk. (As opposed to, say, the elected officials who have racked up $1.2 trillion in national debt this year.) In any event, the Federal Reserve Board subsequently issued the specific regulations called for in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (CARD). While the …
There are several colloquialisms for “paruresis” (par-YOU-ree-sis), one of the newer additions to the growing list of ailments supposedly protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): “pee panic,” “stage fright,” and “urophobia,” among them. No matter one’s term of preference, they all refer to a difficulty or inability to urinate in the presence of others, be it at home or in a public restroom, if observed or in proximity. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) reading of the ADA, employers must make reasonable accommodations for any worker …
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has brought forth yet another excuse to punish employers: Conducting a criminal background check of job applicants could trigger charges of race discrimination. No joke. By a vote of 4–1, the commission last week approved its new “Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” According to said document, individuals in “protected groups” (i.e., African Americans and Hispanics) are convicted of crimes at a rate disproportionately greater than their …
The Dodd–Frank financial strangulation statute transferred a portion of the duties once performed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That’s left the FTC to tap its $292 million budget and 1,176 full-time employees for devising stricter regulation of…appliance labels. Specifically, the agency intends to prohibit manufacturers from hanging the ubiquitous yellow EnergyGuide labels from clothes washers, dishwashers, and refrigerators. (The current rule defines a “hang tag” as a label ‘‘affixed to the product…using string or similar material.’’) Instead, adhesive labels would be de …
During a hearing last week of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Wyoming Senator John Barrasso (R) asked Energy Secretary Steven Chu a seemingly simple question: “(D)o you think a $50 light bulb is affordable for American families?” “No, absolutely not,” Chu replied. Well, if that’s the case, why did Chu award a $10 million top prize for a $50 light bulb in his department’s competition for an “affordable” light? (FYI: The winner, Philips Lighting N.A., a division of the Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics, was the only contestant.) Equally ludicrous …
Some 120 regulations taking effect in the past year require enhanced accommodations for disabled individuals at 65 different types of public and private facilities—encompassing 7 million privately owned sites and 80,000 units of state and local government—including stadiums; convention centers; auditoriums; airport terminals; public parking facilities; theaters and concert halls; jails; prisons; bowling alleys; fishing piers; amusement parks; hotels, motels, and spas; restaurants; stores; health care clinics; and office buildings (to name a few). All of which will cost more than $1 billion annually for each of the next 15 …
Obamacare requires health insurance companies to produce a summary of benefits and coverage (SBC) based on a government-imposed template and glossary. Below is a sampling of the requirements (70 pages) concocted by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury to simplify the task. The summary of benefits and coverage “must be presented in a uniform format, cannot exceed four double-sided pages in length, and must not include print smaller than 12-point font.” It also must “replicate all symbols, formatting, bolding, and shading.” Plans and issuers must …
The bosses at the Department of Labor (DOL) have decided that federal wage and overtime provisions should not apply when grandma’s “companion” assists her with toileting. Moreover, said companion is exempt from the regulations as long as he or she sticks to playing cards, watching television, or engaging in hobbies with a charge. But be forewarned: The exemption will be surrendered should a companion dare to dress grandma on a recurring basis, prepare food not consumed in his or her presence, or regularly draw a bath. These and other “personal …
Millions of American homeowners face foreclosure, but at least one sort of housing crisis has been remedied: No longer will research rats suffer the indignities of crowded cages. That is to say that the federal government has ordered labs to provide precisely measured living quarters for all rodents used in federally funded research. Thus, a female rat and her offspring must be housed (for their short, genetically altered lives) in lodgings that feature no less than 124 square inches of floor space and 7 inches of head room. By comparison, …
A high school diploma has long served as the most basic requirement for an entry-level job (notwithstanding declining standards in government schools). But now comes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) declaring that a sheepskin prerequisite constitutes discrimination. In the opinion of the vaunted EEOC Legal Counsel staff, requiring a high school diploma has a “disparate impact” on individuals with a learning disability. In other words, requiring a high school diploma discriminates against those who don’t have one by holding them to a standard they fail to meet. Proponents of …
