WIRTW #471 (the “free press … sort of” edition)

Hey look, it’s me, in Crain’s Cleveland Business, discussing the employee handbooks:

Here’s what I read this week:

Discrimination

• Compliance with Today’s Anti-Discrimination Laws Through a History Lesson — via Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog
• Employer Beware: When “good” isn’t good enough (disability bias) — via Robin Shea’s Employment & Labor Insider
• Legal incentives and the Google Memo firing — via Walter Olson’s Overlawyered
• Here’s what Google’s diversity and bias training looks like — via The Verge
• Sexual Orientation: DOJ and EEOC Take Opposite Positions in Amicus Briefs Filed in Same Case — via Currents
• No take backs! Employers rescinds a termination, but can’t dodge a discrimination claim — via Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
• Could The EEOC Sue Over Your “Maximum Leave” Policy? — via Troutman Sanders HR Law Matters 

Technology

• Will Facebook One Day Monitor Your Employees’ Mood? — via TLNT
• Number of active social media users passes 3 billion worldwide — via Real Lawyers Have Blogs
• Is it unprofessional to use emoticons in work emails? — via Ask a Manager
• Don’t Microchip Your Employees — via Blogging4Jobs 
• Will You Let Your Employer Microchip You? Just Say No! — via Donna Ballman’s Screw You Guys, I’m Going Home
• A Brief History of ‘NSFW’ — via Motherboard
• The man behind complicated P4S5W0rD$ now admits they won’t keep us safe — via Boy Genius Report
• 67% of Malware Attacks Come by Way of Phishing in Second Quarter — via Dark Reading

HR & Employee Relation

• Google Fires Employee For Expressing an Opinion; Shocked When Employees Don’t Feel Safe Speaking Up — via Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
• Can The Fired Google Engineer Show Us The Political Affiliations of Tech Companies? — via The HR Capitalist, Kris Dunn
• The Privilege of Talking with Your Lawyer — via Jonathan HR Law
• Don’t Be A Lumbergh — via Above the Law
• Study: Employees waste 8 hours per week — via Ragan.com
• Work Flexibility Keeps Women in STEM — via 1 Million for Work Flexibility

Wage & Hour

• Should you get paid to put on your Mickey Mouse costume? — via Mike Haberman’s Omega HR Solutions
• Need to Stay Informed on Changes to State and Local Leave of Absence Laws? Meet Our New Resource: Leave Law Insights! — via Jeff Nowak’s FMLA Insights
• It’s Time to Start Over Again … Again … The FMLA Edition — via Michigan Employment Law

Labor

• D.C. Circuit on Joint Employers (Sort Of) — via Phil Miles’s Lawffice Space
• Appeals Court Slams NLRB Joint Employer Finding in Landmark CNN Case, But Ruling May Prove Hollow — via Who Is My Employee?
• Update on Trump’s National Labor Relations Board: Nominations, Confirmations, and Resignations — via Labor & Employment Law Navigator
• D.C. Circuit Calls Out NLRB in Ruling on Union Access to Employer Property — via Labor Relations