Last week, we were reminded of the impact of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division enforcement activities. The agency announced that National Freight, Inc. will pay more than $1,000,000 in back wages to 359 workers following a Division investigation of the company’s classification and overtime practices.  An investigation of a pay-to-work scheme affecting farmworkers from the Dominican Republic resulted in a finding that a Foley, Minnesota farm owes the workers $576,000 in back wages and other restitution.  In Nebraska, an investigation of wage violations and worker intimidation resulted in a payment of $250,000 to 89 farmworkers by Daniels Produce.

• Illinois has passed legislation, effective January 1, 2017, that extends anti-discrimination protections to domestic workers.
• In an unusual development, the EEOC has sued a Michigan employer for failing to abide by a voluntary settlement agreement reached in a suit alleging race and age discrimination and retaliation.
• To settle a sexual harassment and retaliation suit brought by the EEOC, a Baltimore restaurant has agreed to pay $200,000 and allow an independent monitor to investigate harassment concerns.
• Robin Shea reminded readers what can happen when an employer does a bad job of investigating a sexual harassment complaint.
• The Department of Justice issued a new video warning employers not to discriminate against certain foreign workers with Temporary Protected Status, a special category of work authorization for immigrants.
• Regis Corporation has agreed to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit based on the company’s alleged failure to accommodate a stylist’s claustrophobia.
• Time examined the current status of women in the workplace—and showed that we still have a long way to go to achieve equality in the workplace for women.
• Jezebel highlighted how the restaurant industry gets away with looks-based discrimination.

• Fitness and sleep trackers may improve worker productivity and wellness, but only 46% of employees would accept a wearable if their employers had access to the data.
• Harvard Business Review examined how big data has changed organizational decision-making.
• New websites collect women’s experiences of company cultures to help potential employees assess how different companies treat female employees.

• Graduate students at private universities can unionize, according to a recent ruling from the National Labor Relations Board.
• The National Labor Relations Board announced it will change the way it calculates lost wages in unlawful termination cases.
• Lexology reported on new posters that the Department of Labor now requires. Employers must display new posters on the federal minimum wage and federal law prohibiting polygraph testing.
• The Ninth Circuit contributed to a circuit split over the legality of class waivers in arbitration agreements, agreeing with the National Labor Relations Board that an arbitration provision in an employment contract violated federal labor law.