Last week, a LinkedIn job posting caught the eye of The Huffington Post because it included the following language: “The position is for a receptionist, so female candidates are preferred.”  This is exactly the type of discriminatory hiring the EEOC takes seriously, as reflected in the first of its strategic enforcement plan priorities.  The posting is no longer up on LinkedIn and the company, Vestra Inet, has posted an apology.

Discrimination

• The EEOC announced a $1.5 million settlement with Cintas in a class action sex discrimination lawsuit.
• Ask a Manager gave advice on what to do when an outside contact keeps asking an employee out. 
• Eric B. Meyer explained why temporary workers can still sue an employer for discrimination.
• Forbes suggested employers conduct a pay audit to root out gender discrimination.

Technology

• The Guardian covered how work will be different in the future, including artificial intelligence, expanded cloud use, and expanded workplace monitoring.
• A Sony executive commented that despite the well-known recent hack, Sony employees are still sending email that “they would very much not like to see show up in another venue.”
• The Department of Defense announced it will start a people analytics department.
• Deloitte is using gamification to hire 200 apprentices and hopes the games will help candidates from “poorer backgrounds” triumph. 

In other developments:

• Fast Company gave advice on how to handle a class action.
• Corporate Counsel reported on the record number of wage and hour lawsuits in 2015, and BNA believes the uptick will continue in 2016.