WIRTW #457 (the “sad clown” edition)

You say you want to see a sad clown sing a mashup of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” to the tune of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”? I’ve got you covered. Ladies and gentlemen, Puddles Pity Party.


Here’s what I read this week:

Discrimination

• The pharmacist who was afraid of needles and the ADA — via Phil Miles’s Lawffice Space
• Walking the walk on service dogs in the workplace — via Matrix Radar
• Queen Elsa and Judge Posner: A Duet on Change? — via The Labor Dish
• Pregnancy: A waiting game — via Sedgwick Connection
• Dept. of Labor claims Google’s pay disparities are “systemic” — via Engadget HD

Technology

• McDonald’s New Application Method Will Make Your Teen Want to Apply — via Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
• Employer Liability for Data Breaches: Where Are We Now? — via Employment Law Navigator
• Detection: The Middle Layer of Cybersecurity — via Lawyerist
• 5 Cybersecurity Spring Cleaning Tips for In-House Counsel — via Privacy & Data Security Insight
• N.Y.’s New Cybersecurity Regulations: What Financial Services Companies Need to Know — via Socially Aware Blog

HR & Employee Relations

• United offers a primer in how NOT to handle a crisis — via Ragan.com
• One HR lesson from the United Airlines fiasco: Always act as if you are being recorded — via Mike Haberman’s Omega HR Solutions
• Employees: When Should You Lawyer Up — via hr bartender
• Device-Free Time Is as Important as Work-Life Balance — via Harvard Business Review
• To avoid a messy workplace theft investigation, can we just fire our prime suspect? — via Work Place Coach Blog News
• Millennials: Helping the “Workaholic” Generation — via TalentCulture
• Marijuana at Work: Testing of (and for) Mary Jane — via Employment Law Lookout

Wage & Hour

• How Can There Be Misclassification When The Worker Prefers to Be an Independent Contractor? — via Who Is My Employee?
• Everyone Is Entitled to Paid Rest and Meal Breaks, Fact or Myth? — via HR Gazette
• Should you do free work as part of a job interview? — via Ask a Manager

Labor

• Judge puts hold on Seattle’s we-unionize-you law — via Walter Olson’s Overlawyered
• What Labor Lawyers Are Saying About Wave of Millennial Unionization — via Law.com
• Now, you too can successfully* navigate through an NLRB action — via Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
• Wall Street Journal Highlights SEIU’s Fight for $15 Boondoggle — via LaborPains.org
• Purple Communications NLRB Decision Teed Up for Appeal? — via Labor Relations

Safety

• Employers, spike those “high heels” dress code requirements! — via Robin Shea’s Employment & Labor Insider
• OSHA Awards Fired Bank Manager $5.4M, Rehire Following “Abrupt” Dismissal for Whistleblowing — via Joe’s HR and Benefits Blog
• OSHA Launches Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction Industry — via OSHA Law Blog