What if employers could read employees’ minds? Cybersecurity firm Stroz Friedberg has developed technology that some might say can do just that.  The software, Scout, reads employee emails to determine if an employee is stealing trade secrets, embezzling money, or about to “lose it.”  Scout and other tools try to identify threats to employers, and particularly to their electronic information, before those threats become reality.

Discrimination

• The EEOC announced a $202,000 settlement in its first sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit.
• Robin Shea warned employers that the EEOC has sued employers just for not keeping adequate records.
• The EEOC also announced a settlement of $329,640 with a security company that over requested family medical history and disability information.
• A new law review article was published questioning whether current legal doctrine will apply to discrimination that results from the use of algorithms.
• Harvard Business Review outlined how to create a bias-free workplace. 

Technology

• Steve Boese outlined disruptive technology in the workplace, including Siri and Alexa.
• Josh Bersin described the ten things we need to know about people analytics, including the fact that privacy and data security are issues.
• Forbes wrote about employees’ anxiety over technology taking their jobs, and about how robots could create a more human workplace.
• HubShout detailed a survey revealing that 71.6% of employees are unaware that the First Amendment doesn’t apply at work. 

In other developments:

• Four former employees who sued Allstate insurance for defamation, claiming they were defamed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing even though they were not identified by name, were awarded over $27 million by a jury.
• HR Bartender outlined what employers need to know about marijuana in the workplace.