The Department of Labor announced in 2015 that it would issue regulations setting $50,440 as the salary below which eligibility for overtime would be presumed. Employer organizations were quick to criticize that salary threshold, claiming it was too high.   Last week, the DOL indicated that it is considering a lower threshold for its new overtime provisions, which could be set at $47,000.  The move may not satisfy many critics, and one former Wage and Hour Division Administrator called the lower level an “empty gesture” and said that a salary threshold higher than $35,000 is “irresponsible.”

Discrimination

• The Washington Post covered a new study showing that the gender gap continues for new college graduates.
• The EEOC filed suit against a hospital in North Carolina for religious discrimination. Hospital employees missed a deadline for requesting a religious exemption from the requirement for a flu shot and were terminated. The suit asserts that accommodation of the late requests would not have been an undue burden.
• Fast Company explained why parents make great employees.
• Harvard Business Review wrote about how hiring for cultural fit can thwart diversity efforts.

Technology

• Target is testing robot employees.
• The Economist hypothesized that human resources is becoming a numbers game.
• It’s no real secret, but wearables increase the cybersecurity threat in the workplace.
• Ars Technica asked if organizations are “whistling to themselves to drown out the warnings of impending doom” when facing the risks of data breaches.
• SHRM provided tips on negotiating a contract for technology.  Remember legal compliance, too.
• Performance I Create covered the rise of artificial intelligence.

In other developments:

• The Department of Labor issued a new FMLA poster and new employer guidance.  The new guidance does not suggest any substantive changes to the law.
• When an employee went to work for a competitor before his original employment agreement ended, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held the former employer could be awarded  lost profits for all sales made during the contract term.