Last week, the world mourned Cecil the Lion, and all eyes were on the Minnesota dentist who killed him.  The scrutiny of the dentist unearthed, among other things, a sexual harassment complaint lodged against him by a former dental assistant.  The media swooped upon the former assistant, who had settled her claim for $127,500 and a non-disparagement provision.  In an interview, she said “Karma is a b**h – that’s all I have to say.”  Employment attorneys picked up on this statement and wondered “Is it ‘disparaging’ to say ‘Karma is a b**h’?”  The dentist remains in hiding, so we’re all left to wonder whether he will sue his former employee for breaching the settlement agreement.

Discrimination

• The EEOC obtained a preliminary injunction to prevent the termination of an employee who complained of racial harassment.
• Inc. covered President Obama’s remarks about “ban the box” and the impact of criminal records on the employment of minorities.
• Heather Bussing discussed the difference between discrimination and reality.
• The EEOC announced that EEOC v. Abercrombie has been resolved following the Supreme Court’s historic recent decision.
• Corporate Counsel gave guidance on hiring an applicant with a criminal record. 
• A former employee of Harrison County, Indiana sued the county for religious discrimination after she was terminated for refusing to issue a same-sex marriage license.

Technology

• Recruitment Buzz proclaimed that wearables will revolutionize the workplace.
• Forbes asked if algorithms and big data could appraise character.
• Workforce lamented the lack of data analytic skills in human resources and why HR must fill that skills gap.
• Hootsuite described how it integrated different HR technology to build a better recruitment system.
• A new study showed that 25 percent of employees would sell sensitive data for a paltry $8,000.
• Janine Truitt advised that HR departments should organize themselves before purchasing HR technology.
• Business Insider listed the 19 worst data breaches in history.  This is a list guaranteed to be out of date quickly.

In other developments

• Minnesota’s minimum wage increased to $9.00 per hour for employers who do more than $500,000 of business per year.
• Monster covered arbitration agreements in light of “Deflategate.”
• Dan Schwartz addressed what to do when your model employee isn’t a model employee anymore.