WIRTW #498 (the “blarney” edition)

Photo by Khara Woods on Unsplash

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day. Have you ever thought about what the Patron Saint of Ireland can teach us about employment-law compliance? I did, seven years ago.

Click here for 10 compliance challenges to chase out of your workplace.

Here’s what I read this week:

Harassment training is about creating a culture, not checking a box

Bloomberg reports that demand for anti-harassment training videos has surged in the #MeToo era.

Here’s the problem, however. The Bloomberg article talks about training videos, the absolute worst kind of training.

Anti-harassment training is all about creating an anti-harassment culture in your workplace—about employees understanding what harassment is, how to complain about it, and that your company does not ever accept it.

How your problem employee is like an old hot water tank

Last night, my hot water tank died. It was old (14, to be exact).

During his shower, I heard Donovan yell, “Dad, there’s no hot water, and I’m freezing!” On a hunch, I traveled down to the basement, which is where I found puddles on the floor under and around the tank.

To be fair, we ignored a whole bunch of signals over the past few years. 

Fluctuating water temperatures. A 50-gallon tank that would often deplete in a half-hour. Neighbors that had replaced theirs years ago. 

Which got me thinking … an old hot water tank is not all that different from your problem employee.

Tattoos at work: more acceptance, yet still some legal risk

By ABC TV [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

I am not a tattoo person. Yet, a whole lot of people are. And the numbers are increasing.

In fact, according to one recent survey, 3 in 10 Americans have at least one tattoo, up 50% in just four years. And, the younger you are, the more likely you are to sport a tattoo: 47% of millennials have a tattoo, as compared to 36% of gen Xers and only 13% of baby boomers.

Department of Labor trying to get employees PAID for inadvertent FLSA violations

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

For almost as long as I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve been preaching the proactive benefits of wage and hour audits for employers (e.g., here and here).

It appears that the Department of Labor agrees.

Last week, it announced a nationwide pilot program—the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program—which will permit employers to self-report FLSA violations to the Department of Labor without risk of litigation or enforcement proceedings. It enables employers to resolve inadvertent minimum wage and overtime violations without litigation.

WIRTW #497 (the “love” edition)

For the past 496 Fridays (plus a few off here and there) I have shared my list of what I read this week.

Implicit in each share is my recommendation that among those links are a few that you should read, too.

This week, however, there is only one thing you should (must) read.

Kevin Love, all-star power forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers, wrote about his life-long mental health issues.

6th Circuit is the latest court to conclude that Title VII expressly prohibits LGBT discrimination

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Yesterday, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals joined a growing number of federal appellate courts to hold that Title VII’s prohibition against sex discrimination expressly covers LGBT employees.

The claimant in EEOC v. R.G. &. G.R. Harris Funeral Homes [pdf], Aimee Stevens (formerly known as Anthony Stephens) was born biologically male, and presented as such when hired. The funeral home’s owner and operator, Thomas Rost, fired her shortly after she informed him that she intended to transition from male to female and would represent herself and dress as a woman while at work.