Waiting: College students won’t know whether they can secure a TOPS award until the middle of the summer or later, The News-Star reports. Students must wait until a final state budget is in place and bills that would alter the popular scholarship program run their course in the Legislature. Also, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education chairman warned higher education leaders not to expect the Legislature to pass more taxes in a special session to make TOPS and higher education whole. Sujuan Boutte, executive director of the agency that processes TOPS awards, said the current executive budget would eliminate funding for about 37,500 students next year, or about 80% of the current 54,000 students who receive TOPS. Read the full story.
Back pay: Frank’s International is among four companies that owe $1.6 million in back wages to 2,500 employees, the U.S. Department of Labor says. The Advertiser reports that the department accuses Frank’s of failing to pay proper overtime “after not computing bonus payments in workers’ regular rates of pay” when determining their overtime. The investigation of Frank’s began in the Northeast. Affected employees live in several states, including Louisiana, the department says in a statement, adding that 1,760 employees should be paid a total of $555,351—an average of about $315 per employee. The Labor Department said it has placed focus on oil and gas companies in order to improve labor compliance in that area. Read the full story.
Rebuked: President Obama made a forceful case Tuesday for stopping corporations from moving their headquarters overseas to avoid U.S. taxes, saying they are taking advantage of the American economic system and saddling the middle class with the bill. The Washington Post reports the president, during a briefing, said such companies “effectively renounce their citizenship.” “They declare that they’re based somewhere else, thereby getting all the rewards of being an American company without fulfilling the responsibilities to pay their taxes the way everyone else is supposed to pay them,” Obama says. Obama praised regulations issued Monday by the Treasury Department aimed at making these inversions—in which U.S. companies combine with foreign firms to reduce U.S. taxes—more difficult. Read the full story.
