Roundup: Employee protests; AI guidance from DOL; States with paid family medical leave; Maryland pay transparency; Evidence matters; AI use at work

Take employee complaints seriously. There is almost always some truth there and you may have a bigger problem than you realize. The complaint or protest is a symptom; it's rarely the cause. But too often, employers see the complaint as the problem and think that if they can just squelch the grumbling, everything will be fine.

It won't. Neither will disciplining or terminating the employees who are complaining. Here's how to approach employee complaints and protests.

I'm not sure exactly why there's so much AI theater from state and federal governments right now. It's an election year and a distraction from, well, everything else. But none of the principles or guidance says very much. Often, it demonstrates that the people offering the guidance either don't understand or can't figure out what to do. Probably both.

But nothing is going to happen any time soon because: 1) Congress, and 2) it's too late.

I'm still trying to figure out what a law that permits voluntary paid leave means. But here's a cool map of states that have either mandatory or voluntary paid family medical leave laws and a great explanation for how the laws work and are developing.

I like pay transparency and salary history bans because they make a real difference in pay equity and reducing bias. And that means a fairer workplace, less compliance risk, and maybe even fewer discrimination claims and lower legal bills. Wouldn't that be great?

Prevention and compliance are sensible, wise, and work!

We are bombarded by information and it's definitely increasing with AI. Not all of it is reliable

How do we know whether to believe something? It just so happens that's exactly what evidence is about. The principles of evidence help us to assess the trustworthiness of information. Let's see how trustworthy this study is about the use of AI at work