- Amazon Restricting Work from Home for its Disabled Employees
- Study Points to AI’s Potential to Transform HR Functions
- NLRB Rules Trader Joe’s Union Insignia Ban Unlawful
- Judge Reduces $237 Million UPS Driver Discrimination Case
- Gen Z Retail Workers Most Likely to Witness Workplace Violence
Amazon Restricting Work from Home for its Disabled Employees
As reported by Bloomberg, Amazon recently told employees with disabilities that it was implementing a more rigorous vetting process, both for new requests to work from home and applications to extend existing arrangements. Affected workers must submit to a “multilevel leader review” and could be required to return to the office for monthlong trials to determine if accommodations meet their needs.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy previously announced employees must return to the office five days a week starting in January 2025.
Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan said finding effective work accommodations might entail asking employees questions to understand how they navigate their disabilities outside work.
“We understand that this is going to be a transition, and we’re working with our employees to make it as easy as possible,” Callahan said in a statement. “We continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant. When in-person accommodations are needed, we’ll provide them and, in some cases, offer an exception to working from the office.”
Study Points to AI’s Potential to Transform HR Functions
The transformative impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on the HR profession could lead to a more human touch, in addition to lower costs, according to a new study by global consultancy Bain & Company.
The study suggested selecting the right roles for automation and AI interventions could, on average, save HR around 15% to 20% in labor time, including up to 35% for HR operations teams, 20% for talent acquisitions teams and 15% for HR business partners.
“HR is at a critical juncture. The function is under pressure to become both more cost efficient and more strategic. That is a challenging balance to strike,” said John Hazan, a partner at Bain & Company and the global head of the firm’s talent solution. “Generative AI has the power to elevate HR’s role in the organization, from transactional operators to strategic advisers.”
According to Bain, HR leaders may be able to reinvent their teams’ structure and skills once transactional processes are streamlined through technology. In so doing, specialist HR advisors can become innovation hubs; HR business partners can become advisors to the business and designers of workplace culture; and operational teams can become analysts.
NLRB Rules Trader Joe’s Union Insignia Ban Unlawful
According to a report from Grocery Dive, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge ruled on Nov. 8 that Trader Joe’s unlawfully prohibited workers at the grocer’s Hadley, Massachusetts, store from wearing a union insignia on their uniforms because it violated dress code.
According to the judge, those actions went afoul of the NLRB because “[t]he sole reason [Trader Joe’s] sent [certain workers] home was their protected union activity of wearing a union button at work.”
“Employees long have had a [legal] right to wear union buttons and other insignia at work,” the judge wrote. “When an employer interferes in any way with employees’ … right to display union insignia (whether through buttons, pins, stickers, shirts, hats, or any other accessories or attire), that interference is presumptively unlawful, and the employer has the burden to establish special circumstances that justify its interference.”
Workers in Hadley voted in July 2022 to unionize, becoming the first store to do so.
Judge Reduces $237 Million UPS Driver Discrimination Case
As reported by Reuters, a federal judge has reduced a $237.6 million jury award against United Parcel Service (UPS) to $39.6 million in the case of a Black former driver who accused the company of workplace bias and wrongful firing.
In his decision, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice in Yakima, Washington, accepted UPS’ request to throw out an award of $198 million in punitive damages, finding jurors acted unreasonably in awarding the sum to driver Tahvio Gratton. The decision does not affect the jury’s $39.6 million award to Gratton for emotional distress.
In his lawsuit, Gratton said supervisors at a UPS facility in Yakima frequently passed him over for route assignments in favor of less senior drivers and gave him less desirable trucks and routes than white drivers.
UPS said it plans to seek a new trial and overturn the remainder of the Sept. 12 verdict.
Gen Z Retail Workers Most Likely to Witness Workplace Violence
According to a new report by compliance training company Traliant, 38% of Gen Z retail workers have witnessed workplace violence happening to another employee in the last five years, compared to 22% of millennials, 20% in Gen X and 13% of Baby Boomers. Traliant surveyed more than 500 full-time U.S. retail employees for its report.
Other key findings include:
- 86% of Gen Z employees completed workplace violence prevention training, compared to 78% of millennials, 77% of Baby Boomers and 74% in Gen X.
- Gen Z respondents reported the lowest confidence rates for their abilities to de‑escalate potential workplace violence situations.
- 49% of Gen Z retail workers said they would only report a scenario where they feared for their own safety or a coworker’s safety if they could do so anonymously, compared to only 19% of Baby Boomers.
- Almost all retail workers (94%) agreed that states should adopt policies similar to New York’s Retail Worker Safety Act, which will take effect in March 2025.
California’s Workplace Violence Prevention Law — the first of its kind — went into effect in July, requiring employers to implement a workplace violence prevention plan and employee training.
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