DOL cautions employers on the use of AI

"When used responsibly, AI has the potential to help improve compliance with the law. Without proper human supervision, however, these technologies can pose potential risks to workers … and may result in violations of the law…." 

Those are the words of the Department of Labor in its just published Field Assistance Bulletin, Artificial Intelligence and Automated Systems in the Workplace under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Other Federal Labor Standards.

The DOL highlights many potential legal pitfalls for employers that rely on AI to manage how their employees are paid and to track their attendance and leaves of absence.

Does a prank involving adult diapers and a wheelchair = age discrimination? It depends.

An attorney celebrates a paralegal's 50th birthday by decorating her office party with a wheelchair, fake pill bottles, and adult diapers. (Get it? She's "old.")

The paralegal does not appreciate the joke, and lets the lawyer know as much. In response, the lawyer simply moves the decorations adjacent to the paralegal's workstation. Around the same time, the lawyer also starts asking when the paralegal intends to retire.

Sexual harassment, bathroom, and pronouns

"Sex-based harassment includes harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity, including … repeated and intentional use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with the individual’s known gender identity … or the denial of access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with the individual’s gender identity."

That the official position of the EEOC in its just released, Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace.

EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas disagrees. She voted against the final guidance. She believes that the bathroom guidance is an "assault on women's sex-based privacy and safety," and the pronoun guidance is an assault on "speech and belief rights."

WIRTW #715: the ‘over the top' edition

Another successful Craft Brewers Conference is in the books. 

I spent a few great days speaking (on how to craft a harassment-free craft brewery); seeing old friends and making new ones (I love my craft beer tribe); networking with brewers and other industry professionals (at the Start A Brewery lounge my firm co-sponsored and at nighttime events at breweries around town); eating (the fried chicken at Yardbird in the Venetian is better than advertised, and they advertise it as the best in the country); and, yes, drinking (mostly within moderation; CBC is a marathon, not a sprint).

I also spent an evening supporting an incredibly worthy cause. Wild West Access Fund held its Brewsters Arm Wrestling event. Women, non-binary, and trans people in beer took the stage in a single-elimination arm wrestling competition to raise money to provide financial assistance to those seeking abortion care in Nevada.

It felt good to do good. While my friends who competed did not win — sorry, Julie Rhodes and Dr. J — it was an amazing night for an amazing cause.

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Here's what I read this week that you should read, too.

"This is a business." Google CEO fired back and fired protesting employees.

"This is a business, not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe…."

Those were the words of Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a post on his company's corporate blog.

He's referring to Google's recent firing of 50 workers involved in protests against the company's cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government.

FTC bans all non-competes … Now what?

There's more than one way to skin a cat … or at least that's what many employers are hoping.

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission turned the workplace on its head by banning nearly all non-compete agreements.

I'm not going to summarize the FTC's Rule; your inboxes and LinkedIn feeds will be flooded with plenty of those … including this one we sent out this morning.

Suffice it to say that 120 days from the publication of the Rule in the Federal Register, employers will no longer be able to enforce any non-compete agreements except for those already in place with senior execs earning $151,164 or more annually.

WIRTW #714: the ‘today's post is brought to you by the letters W, G, and A' edition

"No one wants to see a picket line on Sesame Street," said Writers Guild President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen.

Earlier this week, Writers Guild members at Sesame Workshop unanimously voted to authorize a strike if management does not agree to a new collective bargaining agreement before their current contract expires later today. Absent a deal, picketing will begin on April 24.

The writers are seeking industry standard annual raises, improvements to residuals, and union coverage for Sesame Workshop's animation and social media segments.

Anyone who follows me on the regular knows that I'm no fan of labor unions. The demands of these writers, however, seem fair and reasonable. They will also have public sentiment on their side.

"Millions of parents and families around the world are going to have a lot of questions," said Lisa Takeuchi Cullen. "They might ask why the bosses at Sesame Workshop are ignoring their company's own messages of kindness and fairness."

Ouch. Your business has a serious problem when your actions don't match stated values. And that's brought to you by the letters, B, A, and D.

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Here's what I read and listened to this week that you should, too.