Some lessons from the employee fired for middle-fingering Trump’s motorcade

Have your heard about Juli Briskman, the biker that flipped the finger to Trump’s passing motorcade?

https://twitter.com/julibriskman

Parental status discrimination is NOT a thing. But should it be?

I received some great feedback on LinkedIn on last week’s post on New York’s new paid family leave law.

That law grants paid leave for the same general reasons one can take unpaid leave under the FMLA. What it does not do, though, is create a new protected class.

Indeed, discrimination based on one’s status as a parent is, in and of itself, NOT illegal.

WIRTW #483 (the “tardy” edition)

I HATE being late. It’s my number one pet peeve.

It drives my family completely nuts. If I’m even one minute late for anything, I am a mess. For that reason, we are usually five minutes early for everything (which is perfectly okay by me).

I view tardiness as an issue of respect. When you are late, it tells others that you view your time as more valuable than theirs. To me, lateness equal selfishness, and I have little tolerance for the selfish.

Is New York the beginning of the end for America’s poor family leave laws?

My two working-parent family

It is freakin’ hard to be a working parent in America. It is even more difficult when both mom and dad work.

It’s not just childcare, but also doctors’ appointments, kids’ sick days, summer vacations, winter and spring breaks, Labor Days, Memorial Days, and all the other “Days” (and don’t get me started on “teacher in-service days”).

Beginning January 1, 2018, New York is implementing the start of solution for any employees that work in that state.

VOTE for the ‘Worst Employer of 2017’ — polls are open

The day for which you’ve waited all year has finally arrived.

It’s your opportunity to help pick the Worst Employer of 2017.

Apple employee gaffe illustrates risk posed by YouTube videos in protection of trade secrets

An Apple employee lost his job this week after his daughter, Brooke Amelia Peterson, posted a YouTube video of her dad’s brand new, unreleased iPhone X.

ReCode has the details:

Peterson posted a five-minute video of a September day in Silicon Valley, which mostly included shopping for makeup and clothing. Harmless, and not unlike other YouTube videos posted by teenagers. 

But then, in the video, she visits her father on Apple’s campus in Cupertino for what seems like dinner. As they munch on pizzas in the company’s cafeteria, Peterson’s dad hands her his iPhone X to test. That’s when YouTube viewers got about 45 seconds of footage of Peterson scrolling through various screens on the new design and showing off its camera.

Ohio lawmakers consider safe harbor for cybersecurity compliance

If the Equifax data breach hasn’t scared your company into cybersecurity compliance, Ohio lawmakers are considering dangling you a compliance carrot.

Senate Bill 220 [pdf], introduced earlier this month, would provide business a cybersecurity ‘safe harbor’ in exchange for compliance with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (or other similar standard).