Lynne C. Hermie, the attorney who successfully represented the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers against a sex discrimination claim, will now represent Twitter in a discrimination lawsuit filed by a female employee, the Wall Street Journal reports. Twitter employee Tina Huang argues that the company has a secretive process that favors male employees for promotions.
A new report from the Center for Talent Innovation, a non-profit group, finds that black women face additional barriers that prevent them from attaining high-level positions, according to the New York Times. The report finds that more black women desire prestigious positions than white women and are more confident that they will succeed in these jobs. Tai Green, one of the authors of the report, states that black women often have “a deeply rooted understanding of what it means to not have a voice,” which may inspire them to look for jobs where their voices will be heard. The report also finds that workplace programs inspired by Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In” are not useful for women who already know they want to lead. Instead black female employees might benefit more from access to senior mentors who can advocate for promotions and raises on their behalf, yet only 11% of black women have a mentor relationship with a senior colleague.
The New York Times reports that applications for unemployment benefits rose for the third straight week. However, the claims overall remain below 300,000, which suggests a strengthening labor market.
Lydia DePillis, writing in the Washington Post, asks what would happen if Wal-Mart raised its minimum wage to $70,000 per year. The CEO of Gravity Payments, a small Seattle-based company made headlines last week when he raised his staff’s salary to $70,000 by decreasing his own salary to the same level. DePillis questions whether a company like Wal-Mart with the size of its workforce and low wages could follow the same model. Raising the hourly wage to $15, however, is within the realm of possibility. DePillis concludes, “so while a small tech company might be able to redistribute its income equitably to workers, in the real world, the companies with the most workers to benefit are actually the least well-equipped to do so.”
Daily News & Commentary
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January 5
Minor league hockey players strike and win new deal; Hochul endorses no tax on tips; Trump administration drops appeal concerning layoffs.
December 22
Worker-friendly legislation enacted in New York; UW Professor wins free speech case; Trucking company ordered to pay $23 million to Teamsters.
December 21
Argentine unions march against labor law reform; WNBA players vote to authorize a strike; and the NLRB prepares to clear its backlog.
December 19
Labor law professors file an amici curiae and the NLRB regains quorum.
December 18
New Jersey adopts disparate impact rules; Teamsters oppose railroad merger; court pauses more shutdown layoffs.
December 17
The TSA suspends a labor union representing 47,000 officers for a second time; the Trump administration seeks to recruit over 1,000 artificial intelligence experts to the federal workforce; and the New York Times reports on the tumultuous changes that U.S. labor relations has seen over the past year.