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What I've Been Reading This Week


For readers looking for a break in between March Madness games today, tomorrow, the day after, the day after next, etc., let this post serve as a chance to take a break from all the basketball.  I found it difficult to narrow things down this week to just a few articles, but an article from Jon Hyman in regard to the importance of going beyond just covering the basics in regard to harassment training in the workplace is well worth a read.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Washington State Passes Ban the Box Bill

On Tuesday, the Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, signed the ‘Fair Chance Act’ into law.  This law will bar employers from asking about an applicant’s arrest or conviction history until the applicant is determined otherwise qualified for the particular position sought.  The law, set to go into effect on June 6th, will apply to a majority of employers in the state but certain exceptions are carved out for law enforcement positions, positions in which the applicant would (or could) have unsupervised access to anyone under 18 years of age, as well as a few other exceptions for certain positions.  Readers might recall that Washington joins the other West Coast states, Oregon & California, in passing a ban the box bill.


Conservative Groups Urge Passage of the Save Local Business Act

Remember a few weeks ago when the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") vacated its joint employer decision in Hy-Brand and the NLRB Obama era Browning-Ferris joint employer standard went back into place?  Republicans and pro-business groups have been scrambling ever since in an effort to figure out how to again undo the Browning-Ferris decision.  One option is to secure passage of the Save Local Business Act which is currently pending in Congress.  This bill would codify the definition of a more business friendly definition of joint employer under the National Labor Relations act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.  While the bill passed the House, it is currently floundering in the Senate.  In an effort to give the bill a boost, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and several other conservative groups wrote a letter to Congress and urged passage of the bill.  Will this result in the Save Local Business Act becoming law?  Probably not...but it certainly keeps the matter in the news and continues to put pressure on Congress to act.


Harassment Training Should Be More Than Just ‘Checking a Box’

Jon Hyman wrote a well thought out article yesterday in which he cautions employers that providing harassment training in the workplace should go beyond simply showing a video and calling it a day.  Instead, Hyman urges employers to support the training at the highest levels of management, utilize skilled/qualifies trainers to conduct the harassment training, and reinforce the training in an on going basis.  The big takeaway from Hyman’s article?  Go beyond just ‘checking the box’ to say the harassment training was completed.  Well stated.

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