Archive for month: September, 2023

Kerry Tharp’s favorite thing about stock car racing is the people. The Darlington Raceway president said that’s what NASCAR is all about.

In the week before his last race before retirement, Tharp spent much of his time with the people. He handed out doughnuts and sandwiches to fans, shook hands with reporters he corralled for a decade and rode around the infield on his golf cart, waving like royalty. He even held a pet lizard.

Tharp announced his retirement in June. The Sept. 3 Cook Out Southern 500 marked his last race at the The Track to Tough to Tame, and kicked off NASCAR’s playoffs.

Pictured, Kerry Tharp, Josh Harris and Chip Wile stand at a press conference announcing Harris as the new track president at Darlington Raceway.

To read the full story, click here.

Governor Henry McMaster and the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) have announced September as Workforce Development Month for the second year. McMaster mentioned in a press release, “During Workforce Development Month, we highlight the many opportunities available to our people and business community alike to help them and our state continue to prosper.” DEW Executive Director William Floyd added to that by stating, “I think the best thing about this month is how it highlights the daily collaboration, throughout South Carolina, of employers, educators, public agencies, non-profits, and community partners who are committed to enhancing and expanding our world-class workforce.”

September will be filled with job fairs, hiring events, workshops, training, rural outreach, conferences, symposiums, and many other activities to help employers strengthen their businesses and jobseekers find work. Multiple job fairs, including the Be Pro Be Proud and S.C. Works Career Coach, are already occurring across the state, like the SC@Work: Road Trips.

Visit dew.sc.gov/wdm for an interactive map showing your local area’s upcoming events, featured employers, services that S.C. Works can provide, and more. Additionally, we encourage all businesses to participate in this month’s Palmetto Business Barometer to help us better understand the conditions that South Carolina employers are facing and to inform the public about the state’s economy and workforce. Access the September survey here.

The Greater Florence Chamber hosted an informative Leadership Florence Meet and Greet session on September 5th for the 34 member leadership class of 2024. The participants met for the first time at the Chamber offices and began developing connections and relationships that will strengthen throughout the 9-month program.

The first official Leadership Florence session will be an overnight retreat in Myrtle Beach September 11th-12th.

To see photos from the event, click here.

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed a rule that would extend overtime pay to salaried workers earning less than $55,000 a year. Currently, salaried “executive, administrative or professional employees” making over $35,568 are exempt from overtime eligibility. The proposal, if finalized, would likely grant an additional 3.6 million salaried workers the ability to get paid “time-and-a-half” if they work over 40 hours in a week. Additionally, the salary threshold for overtime eligibility would be automatically updated every three years to “reflect current earnings data”.

It is anticipated that salaried employees in the hospitality, manufacturing, and retail industries would be most impacted by the proposed rule. The National Association of Manufacturers expressed immediate concern with the proposal, saying, “The DOL’s proposed rule would inject new regulatory burdens and compliance costs to an industry already reeling from workforce shortages and an onslaught of other unbalanced regulations. Creating new regulatory processes and imposing additional mandatory costs will act as a drag on the sector and upend productive employer–employee relations.”

The rule is not finalized and will undergo the federal rulemaking process. Once published in the Federal Register, the proposed rule will be open for a public comment period of 60 days.

To read the full story, click here.