WIRTW #436 (the "Purdy good music" edition)

Norah and Rhett

Joe Purdy has been around for awhile. That I’d never heard of him before I bought my ticket to see him play with Rhett Miller last Saturday night is my fault, not his. The fact is that I should have heard of this thoughtful, folksy singer-songwriter, given that he contributed a song to one of my all-time favorite television shows, Lost.

So with no knowledge or preconceived expectations, we settled into our front-row seats at The Kent Stage to see Joe Purdy, and we were blown away. His positive message, clever lyrics, and dry wit completely entertained us.

“An example,” you ask? Here’s Joe performing an unrecorded track about his 4th grade girlfriend, Laura Wilson. If you listen closely at 1:37, you’ll hear me drop my iPhone, followed by an embarrassed, “Dad...!” from Norah, and Joe stopping the song to chat to us, amused by the whole interaction.


Check out Joe Purdy if he comes through your town. You won’t be disappointed.

Here’s what I read this week:

Discrimination

• Up Next on Destination Checkbook: Firing a bipolar employee for “her mental illness” — via Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
• Sexual Harassment—An Epidemic? — via FisherBroyles
• The Teensy Weensy Fine Print That Can Allow Sexual Harassment Claims to Go Unheard — via Time
• A federal school bathroom policy? Not so fast — via Walter Olson’s Overlawyered
• Retaliation is a big deal to the EEOC — via Next Blog
• The EEOC adds two new areas of investigation interest — via Mike Haberman’s Omega HR Solutions

Social Media & Technology

• Good Cybersecurity Doesn’t Try to Prevent Every Attack — via Harvard Business Review
• The Password of the Future? Your Eye Holds The Key — via The ChamberPost
• Federal Regulators Propose Tougher Cybersecurity Standards for Big Banks — via Law.com

HR & Employee Relations

• Hiring Without Headaches – A Possibility or Fantasy? — via Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog
• Workplace investigations and the case of the planted peanut butter — via Robin Shea’s Employment & Labor Insider
• Are You the Office Bully? No? Are You Sure About That? — via Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
• It’s High Time You Reviewed Your Company’s Drug Policy — via TLNT
• Workplace Politics (the Trump-Clinton Kind) — via The New York Times
• ‘Too Busy’ to Vote? Now You Can’t Blame Your Boss — via Bloomberg

Wage & Hour

• Ballpark Concession Workers Exempt from Receiving Overtime Pay The L•E•Jer
• FLSA Violations You Must Avoid Wage & Hour Defense Blog
• FLSA Changes: How to Tell Employees They’re Moving from Salary to Hourly hr bartender
• Delay on overtime rules? Smooth Transitions

Labor

• Idiots Who Run Harvard Are Flubbing This Strike Like We All Knew They Would — via Deadspin
• Smaller Bonuses for Union Employees Not Discriminatory or Inherently Destructive, But Failure to Give Notice Leads Unilateral Change Liability — via Labor Relations

OSHA & Safety

• Managers: Warding Off Unsafe Workplace Culture — via TalentCulture
• OSHA Says Workers Do Not Have to Waive Whistleblower Rights — via OSHA Law Blog
• OSHA Releases Top-10 List of Workplace Safety Citations in 2016; Fall Protection Is Number One — via Joe’s HR and Benefits Blog