Last week, Massachusetts became the first state to prohibit employers from asking about salary history before offering a candidate a position.  The law is designed to help close the gender wage gap. Supporters argued that gender inequities are less likely to be perpetuated if employers are not aware of an applicant’s salary history. The law includes two additional provisions related to pay. It makes it unlawful for employers to prohibit employees from talking about their pay, and it requires equal pay for work of “comparable character” or for employees who work in “comparable operations.”  The new law will go into effect in July 2018.

Discrimination

• Mashable discussed sexist attitudes and sexual harassment, and Jon Hyman pondered the “blame the victim” mentality expressed by some following the high-profile sex harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes.
• A Dunkin Donuts franchisee settled a sexual harassment suit by the EEOC for $150,000. 
• The Washington Post discussed a recent EEOC opinion which found that an employee who wore a “Don’t Tread on Me” hat to work could cause a hostile work environment.

Technology

• The Guardian asked if an algorithm is any less racist than a human.
• Inc. reported that data analytics has shown that college degrees may not matter as much as they once did.
• PC Magazine offered tips on how to protect HR technology from cyberattacks.
• Six HR leaders explained how the digital world of work is changing how they do human resources.
• Workforce argued that Human Resources is on the front lines of cybersecurity issues.
• Recruiting Daily reported how humans are still needed despite machine learning and analytics are growing.

In other developments:

• Popular employer-review site Glassdoor was sued by one of its purportedly anonymous employee members when her email was published.
• The National Labor Relations Board found that the United Postal Service “flouted” labor law when it issued a written warning to an employee after he engaged in a “loud, profane, disrespectful and obnoxious” outburst.