Florida: Governor signs off on new workforce program
Florida is about to test out a revamped workforce system that is expected to create a more efficient pipeline from the classroom to the workplace by streamlining state career resources. Another new law incentivizes businesses to hire students by providing workers’ comp through the school they are attending. Florida Politics
Owner of Massachusetts staffing agency accused of workers’ comp fraud
The owner of a Lowell, Massachusetts-based temporary staffing agency is facing workers’ compensation fraud charges for allegedly failing to provide the true payroll size to the agency’s insurance provider. Due to the alleged underreporting of payroll, the agency evaded at least $141,000 in workers’ compensation premiums, according to the state attorney general’s office. Lowell Sun
NIH deleted data on early Wuhan COVID cases at request of Chinese researchers
The U.S. National Institutes of Health deleted gene sequences taken from early COVID-19 carriers at the request of Chinese researchers, raising concerns about Beijing’s efforts to conceal information crucial to the virus origin investigation. According to the NIH statement, the researcher asked that the sequences be removed from the NIH database because they had been updated and were to be rerouted to another database, the name of which remains unknown. National Review
JPMorgan bringing back employees to office regardless of COVID vaccine status
Regardless of vaccination status, JPMorgan expects their employees back in the office a minimum of 50 percent and possibly 100 percent of the time, depending on their role and on occupancy limits, according to a memo sent to employees late Wednesday, which also stresses the importance of getting vaccinated. New York Post
Federal charges dropped against New Hampshire contractor in employee death
Federal charges against a New Hampshire contractor who is accused of lying to investigators about an employee who died in a work-related accident three years ago have been dropped. In August 2018, a 51-year-old employee fell off and later died at Concord Hospital. The company reportedly still owes $40,000 from five citations for an allegedly damaged and dangerous ladder, and failure to provide fall prevention training. Concord Monitor