As a dad of a woman (girl) who may someday live in the music industry, I read with great interest the comments of Recording Academy President Neil Portnow, responding to why women were so under-represented as winners at this year’s Grammys.
It has to begin with … women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level… [They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome. I don’t have personal experience of those kinds of brick walls that you face but I think it’s upon us—us as an industry—to make the welcome mat very obvious, breeding opportunities for all people who want to be creative and paying it forward and creating that next generation of artists.
Artists were less than enthusiastic about his “step up” comment.
— P!nk (@Pink) January 29, 2018
After the backlash, Portnow has apologized (“Regrettably, I used two words, ‘step up,’ that, when taken out of context, do not convey my beliefs and the point I was trying to make”), while female music execs are calling for his ouster.
I have no idea what Portnow believes about women in his industry, nor do I think that what he said is quite as evil as what the press has conveyed. I also don’t know whether his apology is sincere or is just a self-serving attempt to save his job.
What I do know is that #MeToo and #TimesUp are not going away. And comments like Portnow’s, which will be played and replayed for effect, do not help the cause of male executives. We as men need to do better, both in our messaging and our actions, because no protected class of employees deserved to be second class.
Here’s what I read this week:
Discrimination
- EEOC charges were down in FY2017 … but don’t celebrate just yet — via Robin Shea’s Employment & Labor Insider
- In The #MeToo Era, Should White Men Be Called Privileged? Yes. And That’s OK. — via Fistful of Talent
- Ohio Chamber Testifies in Support of Sexual Orientation Protections — via Ohio Chamber Blog
- Recent Developments in Title VII Protection for Sexual Orientation — via Workplace Prof Blog
- Reassignment as an ADA Accommodation: To Compete or Not to Compete? — via Matrix Radar
- Sexual Harassment Settlements With Nondisclosure Agreement No Longer Deductible — via LE Blog
- Congress May Soon Provide Sexual Harassment Coverage For Gig Workers — via Gig Employer Blog
- Are You In a Rush to be Offended? — via The Tim Sackett Project
- NDAs Are Out of Control. Here’s What Needs to Change — via Harvard Business Review
- “Lawyers Faced With Emojis and Emoticons Are All ☺ ; Chipmunks, kissy lips and champagne bottles are becoming bones of contention in legal disputes; a court considers the ‘:P’” — via How Appealing
- What are Blockchain’s Implications for Employment Law? — via Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog
- NIST Issues Draft Report on Blockchain to Help Businesses Decide When and If to Use Blockchain — via Ride The Lightning
- Is Dark Data Derailing Your Discovery? Step Into The Light With Everlaw — via Above the Law
- Would you fire an employee for something she posted on Facebook … back in high school? — via Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
- Why Help An Employee? — via tHRive Law & Consulting
- My Former Employee is Bad-Mouthing Me — via Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
- Does “MeToo” Compel Job References Saying “Not Him”? — via Minnesota Employment Law Report
- Lawyer is accused of burglarizing law firm that fired her, using stolen credit card to buy sex toys — via ABA Journal Daily News
- This Flu Is A Killer; Don’t Let Anyone Come to Work Sick — via TLNT
- Review of the Trump Administration’s First Year: Immigration, Wage and Hour Enforcement — via HR Hero Line
- More employers offering paid parental leave to hourly workers — via HR Dive
- Fourth Circuit Revives Live-in Innkeepers FLSA Claims — via The Employment Brief
- Paid Leave Is on Employers’ Agenda, Too, SHRM Says in Response to SOTU — via ext Blog
- FMLA Leave: Tom Brady Plays Through the Pain–Why Can’t You? — via EntertainHR
- Protect Labor Law’s Balance between Workers’ and Employers’ Rights — via Workforce Freedom Initiative
- Yes, there’s footage of the shooting. No, you can’t see it. — via Walter Olson’s Overlawyered
- NLRB extends comment period for ‘quickie’ election rule — via CUE, Inc.
- Do Right To Work Laws Impact Politics? — via Labor Relations Institute
- Columbia to Fight NLRB Ruling on Graduate Assistants’ Unionization Efforts in Federal Court — via Labor Relations
- February 1st… Hmmm… don’t I have to publish some OSHA form? — via Mike Haberman’s Omega HR Solutions
- OSHA opens investigation of alleged Sauk County workplace attack — via Baraboo News Republic