Last week, there were developments in two cases in different Pennsylvania courts involving employer liability—or lack thereof—for data breaches involving employee personally identifiable information (PII). A Pennsylvania state appellate court affirmed a dismissal of a proposed class action by employees of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center whose PII was stolen in a data breach perpetrated by hackers. And in Pennsylvania federal court, in a case in which an ex-employee accuses Coca-Cola Co. of exposing himself and other employees to identity theft after several dozen company laptops were stolen, Coca-Cola told the court that it was not obligated to safeguard the worker’s personal information pursuant to an employment contract.
Discrimination
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A Houston nightclub was
ordered to pay $139,366 to a waitress who alleged the club discriminated against her for refusing to provide documentation proving she was not HIV-positive.
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The EEOC
sued Marquez Brothers International Inc. and its affiliates for failing to hire non-Hispanic candidates because of their race.
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News broke that Fox News
secretly settled a suit over sexual harassment allegations against Bill O’Reilly.
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LexisNexis Risk Solutions agreed to pay more than
$1.2 million to resolve allegations of systematic pay discrimination against women managers.
Technology
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Amazon
announced it will create 100,000 full-time jobs with benefits in the next 18 months.
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The Economist issued a
compelling article on the necessity and difficulty of equipping all workers to keep pace with technological change.
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A former Snapchat employee alleged in a
lawsuit that the social media company misrepresented its user statistics and attempted to make him share trade secrets about Facebook during recruitment.
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ManPower Group issued a
report detailing how technological change will alter the employment landscape.
In Other News
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The Supreme Court
agreed to consider whether employers can require workers to sign arbitration agreements that prevent them from pursuing group claims in court.
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SHRM offered
advice for staying civil at work while handling sensitive subjects like performance reviews and budgeting.
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