Late last week, Uber announced it had reached a settlement with California and Massachusetts drivers over their classification as independent contractors.  The settlement calls for drivers to remain independent contractors, although Uber will change some of its policies, including allowing “driver associations.”  Uber will also pay the drivers $84 million and, depending on its financial success, may pay up to an additional $16 million in the future. With a somewhat similar settlement between Lyft and its drivers up in the air, it’s unclear whether the Uber settlement will stick.  In the meantime, Region 21 of the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint alleging that misclassifying workers as independent contractors violates the National Labor Relations Act.

Discrimination

• A Romanian baker put gender inequality statistics on cakes to raise money for awareness initiatives.
• Jon Hyman reminded his readers that offensive videos are inappropriate even when they feature Lego figures.
• Matrix Absence Management explained what not to do when the EEOC asks for employee names.
• Inc. covered Intel’s diversity initiatives and their impact on the chipmaker’s business.
• Motherboard showed how artificial intelligence can improve diversity.

Technology

• Harvard Business Review wrote about companies’ use of gamification and analytics to hire.
• Australia’s The Age advised how to stay employed in a robot world.
• TalentCulture explained what HR needs to know about the cloud.
• Mike Haberman reported how cognitive computing can change the employee experience.
• TLNT explained that at its core, HR analytics asks questions.
• Workday announced it is expanding its predictive analytics capabilities. 

In other developments:

• TriNet, a human resources consultancy, settled an unpaid overtime Department of Labor investigation for $1 million.
• After several social media incidents, ESPN terminated Curt Schilling for sharing a Facebook post that mocked transgender males. 
• Inc. also pondered Congress’ feelings about the Department of Labor’s new overtime regulations.