Do you have operations in England? Pay equity reporting time coming up soon: The United Kingdom is moving ahead with its pay equity initiative. By no later than April 5, private employers with at least 250 employees in England, Scotland, and Wales must report and publish their pay gap data identifying where there is a gender-based pay gap in different job categories. The publication must also indicate what steps the employers are taking to address any pay gap revealed. The gender pay gap is the difference between the average earnings of men and women, expressed relative to men’s earnings. For example, “women earn 15% less than men per hour.”  Employers must both: publish their gender pay gap data and a written statement on their public-facing website and report their data to government online - using the gender pay gap reporting service. If your organization has fewer than 250 employees, it can publish and report voluntarily but is not obliged to do so. Source:  Seyfarth Shaw 3/1/18

Medical marijuana users fall under ADA?  In an uphill battle, a case was filed against UPS claiming that an employee was terminated for having a medical marijuana card. In Terry v. United Parcel Services, Inc., No. 2:17-cv-04972-PHX-DJB (D. Ariz., filed Dec. 29, 2017), UPS required Terry to report immediately for a drug and alcohol screening test and was informed that the reason for the test was “observable behavior.” One week later Terry claims that UPS terminated his employment due to his positive drug and alcohol screening results and violation of the company’s drug and alcohol policy. Terry told UPS that he has a valid medical marijuana card and a valid prescription for Adderall that he took to treat his ADD. In his lawsuit, Terry alleges that he was a disabled individual within the meaning of the ADA, and that UPS failed to offer him any reasonable accommodation for his disabilities. Presumably the accommodation that he was seeking was exemption from UPS’s drug policy and the ability to use medical marijuana off-duty and outside the workplace. His case faces a number of hurdles, especially since it has been ruled that the ADA does not protect illegal drug, use and marijuana remains illegal under federal law. Source: Seyfarth Shaw 3/6/18

Will more senior executives have inclusion clauses in their employment contracts? After Oscar winner Frances McDormand turned #InclusionRider into a buzz word overnight, the question arose whether a high-profile employee outside of the entertainment industry might seek a similar demand.  In the entertainment business, the inclusion rider is an effective means for a celebrity to ensure that more women and minorities are engaged on productions, according to Ivy Kagan Bierman, a partner at Loeb & Loeb in Los Angeles. Bierman said she expects entertainment companies to negotiate an inclusion rider with language that includes a demand for “reasonable efforts” at diversity rather than specifying a specific number or percentage of diverse hires. “It will be interesting to see which companies embrace this,” she added. Ruth Wimer, a partner at Winston & Strawn in Washington, D.C., said certainly executives in other industries could seek such riders. “Maybe for the right kind of CEO,” she said. “You have to have the desire on the part of the executive.” Wimer focuses her work on executive compensation issues.  She said such a rider is not something one normally sees in an executive employment contract. Even if an executive does seek it, the movement “is not likely to be widespread,” she predicted.  Source: law.com 3/5/18

Age discrimination still an issue:  Diverse Lynx, LLC, a Princeton, New Jersey-based IT staffing firm with offices in Princeton and Noida, India, will pay $50,000 and will undertake significant remedial measures to settle an age discrimination lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  The EEOC alleged that Diverse Lynx violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) when, after learning an applicant’s date of birth, the company sent the applicant an email stating that he would no longer be considered for the position because he was “born in 1945” and “age will matter.” Source:  EEOC 3/8/18

Foreign student visas to U.S. universities drop: The number of visas issued to foreign students fell markedly last year amid stricter immigration policies, State Department data shows, exacerbating financial challenges for some U.S. colleges and universities.  Some of the slide can be attributed to stepped-up competition from schools in other countries and less support for foreign study by some governments. But immigration attorneys and school officials say Trump administration policies are making the U.S. a tougher destination for foreigners and point to stricter scrutiny of those who do apply.  In the year ending Sept. 30, 2017, the State Department issued 393,573 student visas, known as F-1s. That was down 17% from the previous fiscal year and nearly 40% below the 2015 peak. The drop-off was particularly dramatic among Indian students this year, with a 28% decline in visas from the second-biggest feeder of foreign students at U.S. colleges. There were about 78,000 fewer visas issued in fiscal year 2017 compared with 2016 for all countries, including about 35,000 fewer from China. Setting aside visas from China, the overall drop in visas issued was 13% from 2016 to 2017.  China is the largest in terms of student visas issued.  Source: WSJ 3/11/18

Dorm living coming back in vogue for professionals:  In search of reasonable rent, the middle-class backbone of San Francisco — maître d’s, teachers, bookstore managers, lounge musicians, copywriters, and merchandise planners — are engaging in an unusual experiment in communal living. They are moving into dorms.  Shared bathrooms at the end of the hall and having no individual kitchen or living room is becoming less weird for some of the city’s workers thanks to Starcity, a new development company that is expressly creating dorms for many of the non-tech population.  The average one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco rents for $3,300 a month, but Starcity rooms go for $1,400 to $2,400 a month fully furnished, with utilities and Wi-Fi included. Starcity has already opened three properties with 36 units. It has nine more in development and a wait list of 8,000 people.  Source: NYTimes 3/5/18

Student who dropped out of college won’t leave dorm: Speaking of dorms…Lisa Palmer has been living in Hunter College's Manhattan dormitory since the spring semester of 2016. Strangely enough, she isn’t a student at the college.  According to a lawsuit for eviction filed by Hunter College, Palmer failed to pay over $1,800 in residence fees thereby violating her occupancy agreement pretty much as soon as she moved in. Then, when the college denied her housing application, she dropped out of school and ignored the notice to vacate. According to the complaint, Palmer owes $94,000 in residence hall charges. Adding to the strange behavior of living in a dorm room after dropping out of school, Palmer also apparently demanded a 2018 resident ID card so that she could access other portions of campus. The lawsuit for eviction seeks a judgment of $94,372 (plus interest) for the unpaid residence fees, and for police to "eject Palmer from Room E579."   Source: findlaw.com 3/2/18