Quick Hits - October 17, 2018 - American Society of Employers - ASE Staff

Quick Hits - October 17, 2018

No changes to 2019 W-4: In a move that is likely to elicit a collective sigh of relief from payroll professionals, the IRS has announced that it will not be making major changes to the 2019 version of Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate. According to the IRS announcement, the 2019 version of Form W-4 will be similar to the 2018 version. A new draft version of the 2019 form will be available in the coming weeks [IRS Statement on Form W-4, 9/20/2018].  CCH 10/15/18

Amazon stops production of AI tool for recruitment because it discriminated against women:  Automation has been key to Amazon’s e-commerce dominance, whether inside warehouses or driving pricing decisions. The company’s experimental hiring tool used artificial intelligence (AI) to give job candidates scores ranging from one to five stars – much like shoppers rate products on Amazon, people familiar with Amazon’s recruitment programs told Reuters.  “Everyone wanted this holy grail,” one of the people said. “They literally wanted it to be an engine where I’m going to give you 100 resumes, it will spit out the top five, and we’ll hire those.”   But by 2015, the company realized its new system was not rating candidates for software developer jobs and other technical posts in a gender-neutral way. Amazon’s system taught itself that male candidates were preferable. It penalized resumes that included the word “women’s,” as in “women’s chess club captain.” And it downgraded graduates of two all-women’s colleges, according to people familiar with the matter. They did not specify the names of the schools. The Seattle company ultimately disbanded the team by the start of last year because executives lost hope for the project, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Amazon’s recruiters looked at the recommendations generated by the tool when searching for new hires, but never relied solely on those rankings, they said.  Source: Reuters 10/9/18

CFOs don’t think HR impacts business: HR doesn't impact businesses' bottom lines, according to 61% of CFOs surveyed by Paycor. Almost half of HR leaders in the survey (49%) said they agree. The survey, 2019 Report: People Management, polled 700 leaders, including HR directors, CEOs, and CFOs at small to midsize businesses. That’s a problem because HR is responsible for managing employees, an organization’s greatest asset and greatest compliance risk. These days, CFOs are shouldering the pretty big burden of helping their organizations make smart decisions when it comes to their people. Compliance is a big piece of that puzzle. With the economic recovery, and because employment is at an 18-year low, finding top talent is a huge challenge. CFOs are taking a closer look at their human capital to maximize their existing resources. So, finding and retaining top talent is no longer just the worry of human resources professionals; CFOs say it is a continual – and increasing – concern.  Source:  Paycor 6/13/18

Starbucks now offers caregiving benefits to employees: Starbucks announced a new low-cost caregiver benefit for its employees called Care@Work. The coffee retail giant teamed up with Care.com to offer workers 10 subsidized back-up care days a year for children, adults, and senior family members when normal care isn't available or an emergency comes up. Care.com helps people find special needs caregivers, babysitters, housekeepers, nannies, pet sitters, personal assistants, and other services.   Care@Work includes: in-home backup childcare, at a cost of $1.00 an hour for in-home services and $2.00 an hour after the fourth child; in-center backup childcare, at a cost of $5.00 a day per child; and in-home backup adult care, at a cost of $1.00 an hour for each adult.  Another Care@Work benefit is unlimited senior care planning, which allows employees to connect with a senior care advisor for professional help and to access a customized senior care plan. The program also gives participants free premier Care.com memberships, valued at $147.  Source: Starbucks 10/9/18, HR Dive 10/10/18

Walgreens changing its benefits packages:  Walgreens is changing the benefits it offers employees and eliminating health insurance for most of its eligible retirees, just months after announcing it would boost hourly wages for store employees.  Starting in 2019, employees of the Deerfield-based drugstore chain won’t qualify for paid time off unless they work at least 30 hours a week, said Walgreens spokesman Brian Faith. Currently, employees can qualify for paid time off if they work at least 20 hours a week.  Walgreens is also adding a paid parental leave benefit, effective immediately, that will offer full pay for eight weeks of leave to new mothers and fathers. The company is expanding short-term disability leaves for hourly employees working at least 30 hours a week. Walgreens’ changes to its pay and benefits are meant to “help attract and retain our valued team members and remain market competitive,” Faith said in an email.  Source:  Chicago Tribune 10/9/18

Being tired an excuse for ethical lapses? Imagine that you are the manager who catches this misdeed. How do you react? Does knowing the employee was exhausted influence your response?  Very possibly, according to new research from Maryam Kouchaki, assistant professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School. She and coauthors find that we judge employees’ ethical lapses less harshly when we perceive the wayward workers to be tired. And we are particularly soft on employees who are tired for reasons outside of their control: because they stayed up to care for a family member, for instance, or had an overwhelming workload. And while the tendency is to go easy on a depleted employee, managers risk creating a dangerous precedent, Kouchaki says. If employees rarely receive punishment for fudging their expense reports simply because they were overworked when they did it, there is little incentive to be truthful the next time.  Source: Northwestern University 5/1/18

EEOC sued over LGBT guidance: U.S. Pastor Council, a Houston-based coalition of Christian pastors, and Hotze Health & Wellness Center, a Houston area health center, have sued the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), challenging its guidance regarding employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The plaintiffs filed a class action complaint on behalf of others similarly situated, alleging that because EEOC's guidance on the issue fails to make "any exemptions or accommodations for churches or corporations that oppose homosexual or transgender behavior on religious grounds," the commission's position violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment. The plaintiffs also sued the U.S., alleging that Title VII's statutory exemptions for religious employers are "constitutionally insufficient."   The suit seeks a declaratory judgment affirming the violations alleged, as well as an injunction preventing the federal government from enforcing anti-discrimination policies of the type named in the suit against an employer "that objects to homosexual or transgender behavior on religious grounds."  Source:  HR Dive 10/10/18

Is Major League Baseball violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?  It appears maybe.  The news reports claim that the FBI and federal prosecutors with the FCPA Unit out of the U.S. Department of Justice are investigating whether Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs and those acting on their behalf are “bribing clerks or immigration officials to change dates of birth on identification documents, or to fabricate false identity documents,” when recruiting top baseball prospects coming out of international markets.  Specifically, the well-sourced FCPA Professor blog, in quoting a former baseball operations executive for an MLB club, explained that, “MLB scouting staff or other club employees may interact at various times with these [international] officials to obtain identification documents for prospects, such as birth certificates and passports. . . . The reason why these points of contact create risk for clubs is that prospects, through their agents or handlers, commit rampant age and identity fraud in order to appear younger and thus increase their market value.” Major league baseball and its prized recruiting systems are big business in the sports world, both in the United States and abroad.  If true, this criminal probe may well shine a spotlight on a foreseeable dark side of MLB recruiting practices in the same way that a different federal grand jury investigation brought attention to illegal steroid use by some of the league’s best and most popular players several years ago.  Source:  Seyfarth Shaw 10/11/18

Turn the clock back on November 4: Daylight Savings Time ends November 4.  For a copy of the End of Daylight Savings Time Poster, click here.

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