WIRTW #511 (the “dads” edition)

Since we just celebrated Father’s Day, I thought I’d use this space to highlight some of the best posts I read this past week about working dads:

• For Working Dads, Workflex Works — via Next Blog
• Why Workplaces Need to Be Fairer to Working Dads — via Harvard Business Review
• Five fun facts about fathers (in the workplace) — via Robin Shea’s Employment & Labor Insider
• Fathers Day offers a chance to ponder the disadvantages faced by many working dads — via Insight
• 2018’s Best & Worst States for Working Dads — via WalletHub
• Stay-At-Home Dads Still Struggle With Diapers, Drool, Stigma And Isolation — via NPR

As for my dad, he received a new fanny pack (I understand they are very much back in style; thanks, Amazon Prime, for delivering the gift four days late).

Here’s what else I read this week:

Should we require drug testing as a condition for unemployment benefits?

This is the question posed by Ohio House Bill 704.

Let's be clear. This law, if enacted, would not require drug testing as a condition for all applicants for unemployment benefits. Only those—

1. for whom there exists reasonable cause to suspect the unlawful use of a controlled substance; and 
2. whose most recent employer fired because of the unlawful use of a controlled substance.

EEOC sees no #MeToo uptick in harassment filings, but…

Earlier this month, the EEOC reconvened its Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace. One fact that came out of the agency’s meeting is that, according to Acting EEOC Chair Victoria Lipnic, the EEOC has yet to see an increase in sexual harassment charges in response to the #MeToo movement.

I do want to mention one other point that we have been frequently asked here at the EEOC - and that is - “have you seen an uptick in charges filed alleging harassment?” - sometimes, people ask, specifically about sexual harassment charges being filed with the agency?

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes your employees make porn at work

Employees lose their jobs for lots of reason.

Including (allegedly) filming porn at work.

“Incredibles 2” is an incredible movie about working parenthood

Being a working parent is all about sacrifice. Not always being there for the small stuff. It might mean missing your daughter’s first date. Or not helping your son figure out his math homework. Or not experiencing your baby’s first word (or exhibition of superpowers).

For Elastagirl (aka Mrs. Incredible, aka Helen Parr) it means all of these things.

WIRTW #510 (the “communication breakdown” edition)

“Best Band I’ve ever heard!”
“You kids Rocked best band I’ve seen in long time. I would pay to see Fake ID again WOW”
“Could of listened to u all day. VERY IMPRESSED!”
“I was blown away by your talent! Very impressive!”

These are just a few of the comments made by folks who saw Fake ID play a killer hour-long set over the Memorial Day weekend at Ohio Bike Week. (I agree with all of the above comments, but I’m also a bit biased.)

If you are looking for something to do next Saturday evening, head to Crocker Park, in Cleveland’s western burbs, and check out Fake ID, which will be playing a free show from 5:30 – 7. They’ll be rocking the square in front of the Regal Cinema.

Here’s a taste of what you’ll see, from Ohio Bike Week.


Here’s what I read this week:

The 10th nominee for the “worst employer of 2018” is … the whitewasher

White only

If I told you that an employee hung this sign inside his workplace, you might think I was talking about 1950’s Mississippi.

I’m not. It’s 2018 Sacramento, California.

That alone would be enough to earn this employer (Vivint Solar) a nomination as the worst employer of 2018, but it’s just the tip of the racist iceberg.

Is technology the answer to your employees’ mental health problems?

The world was rocked last week, first by the suicide of Kate Spade and then by that of Anthony Bourdain. American suicide rates have skyrocketed, up 30 percent since 1999, emblematic of the larger mental-health epidemic we are facing.

Many point to the isolationism and perfection seeking created by our personal technology devices (and the social media they feed to us) as one the main causes of this epidemic.

But what if the analytical power of these devices could actually alert us to mood changes and create an earlier awareness of an impending personal mental-health crisis?

The legality of pre-certification communications with potential class members

Your nightmare as an employer has just become your reality.

A disgruntled former employee has launched a wage and hour class action lawsuit against you.

You’d like to get out ahead of the game by having your lawyers start marshaling your evidence. For example, they’d like to interview employees and gather affidavits in opposition to the eventual motion for class certification.

But can they?

NLRB clarifies its new employee handbook rules

Late last year, in Boeing Co., the NLRB rewrote more than a decade of precedent by overturning its Lutheran Heritage standard regarding when facially neutral employment policies violate the rights of employees to engage in concerted activity protected by section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.

The Board scrapped Lutheran Heritage‘s “reasonably construe” test (a work rule violates section 7 if an employee could “reasonably construe” an infringement of their section 7 rights) with a test that balances “asserted business justifications and the invasion of employee rights” by weighing “(i) the nature and extent of the potential impact on NLRA rights, and (ii) legitimate justifications associated with the requirement(s).”