2015 Event Los Angeles County, U.S., votes to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour from $9/hour; the new pay rate will be valid for county workers and employees working in unincorporated areas of the county 2015 Event E-commerce company eBay announces that it will lay off 2,400 employees in advance of its plans to spin off its PayPal unit; the split is expected to take place in mid-2015 2015 Event U.S. President Barack Obama gives his State of the Union address, promoting free community college education, increased capital gains taxes on the rich, more paid time off for employees, and greater tax credits for the middle class 2014 Event Facebook and Apple are offering to pay the costs of freezing the eggs of female employees covered by the companies' insurance plans; the companies see the offering as a way to help women focus on their careers if they wish to delay motherhood 2014 Event Wal Mart announces that, due to the Affordable Care Act, it will increase health benefit costs for all employees and end health benefits for its 30,000 or so workers with fewer than 30 hours per week; the changes will take place in January 2015 2014 Event Movie studio Warner Brothers announces plans to lay off employees and reduce costs in order to improve efficiency; parent company Time Warner Inc. is seeking improvements across its divisions after rejecting a buyout offer by Rupert Murdoch earlier this year 2014 Event Microsoft announces that it will lay off 14% of its workforce, equalling approximately 18,000 employees; many of the cuts are expected to come from recently-acquired Nokia 2014 Event Facebook reports that over 90% of its tech employees are Asian or white, while women make up only 15% of tech employees and 31% of all employees; COO Cheryl Sandberg notes that more women are also needed in leadership roles at the company 2014 Event Football players at Northwestern University cast votes on whether to form a union; the players were ruled last month to be university employees by the National Labor Relations Board, giving the students the right to organize 2014 Event The U.S. Supreme Court rules that whistleblower protection under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act extends to private employees working for public companies under contract 2013 Event The Pentagon will furlough 650,000 civilian employees without pay for six days this year after receiving warnings that mandatory budget cuts might idle defense workers for a longer period of time 2013 Event U.S. Republicans unveil a series of bills designed to prevent government abuse, including the 'STOP IRS Act,' which would allow IRS employees to be fired when they take actions for political purposes 2013 Event Caterpillar, a heavy construction equipment manufacturer, announces plans to lay off 300 additional employees at its Decatur, Illinois facility by July 2013 2013 Event UK's oldest music retailer HMV calls in administrators after talks to rescue the company fail; the company which has over 4,500 employees, opened its first shop on Oxford Street in 1921 2012 Event Thousands of union employees protest outside of the capital building in Lansing, Michigan, as Michigan's government passes legislation, becoming the nation's 24th right-to-work state, and most highly unionized state in the U.S. to have such laws 2011 Event Lawmakers successfully pass the vote to remove nearly all collective bargaining from Wisconsin state employees 2010 Event Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, responds to a fiscal state of emergency by requiring most state employees to take three days of unpaid leave per month 1989 Event U.S. Supreme Court rules employees have legal burden to prove non- discriminatory reasons for not hiring or promoting 1983 Event Some 675,000 employees strike AT&T 1983 Death Alice White, actress (Employees' Entrance), dies at 78 of a stroke 1982 Event 3 CBS employees shot to death in New York City parking lot 1978 Event 6 masked men bound 10 employees at Lufthansa cargo area at New York Kennedy Airport and made off with $5.8 M in cash and jewelry 1975 Event 600 employees of Royal Canadian Mint go on strike 1970 Event SF city employees begin 4-day strike 1968 Event 178,000 employees of U.S. Bell Telephone System go on strike 1958 Death Magdalene Szekely-Lulofs, author (Our Italian Employees), dies at 58 1953 Event General Electric announces all Communist employees will be fired 1950 Event Senator Joe McCarthy claims to have list of 205 communist government employees 1947 Event President Truman signs Executive Order 9835 requiring all federal employees to have allegiance to the United States 1941 Event 2 Fokker's employees flee nazi occupied Netherlands to England 1940 Event AVRO-chairman Willem Vogt fires all Jewish employees 1917 Event U.S. Supreme Court upheld 8-hour work day for railroad employees 1913 Event 1st state law requiring bonding of officers and state employees, ND 1912 Event U.S. passes Anti-gag law, federal employees right to petition government 1894 Event Labor Day established as a federal employees holiday
