There are currently 63 DE&I lawsuits working their way through the courts. These, coupled with conservative attacks on the initiatives, and some companies changing their DE&I practices, could make some practitioners weary that their corporate policies might open them up to legal action.

However, David Glasgow, a lawyer and executive director at the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at New York University School of Law, recently told HR Brew that most DE&I initiatives are legal, but practitioners should develop their legal literacy to help them drive forward strategies amid the polarized landscape.

The legality of DE&I. “The vast majority of DE&I programs that were fine before the SFFA [Supreme Court case against affirmative action] decision [are] still fine,” Glasgow emphasized. “If you’re doing things like broadening your outreach to different places to try and get a more diverse candidate pool. If [you’re] setting up a structured recruitment process by eliminating implicit bias, and creating standard interview questions and protocols…those things are perfectly fine.”

Language isn’t everything. Some organizations, including SHRM and Walmart, have changed the language they use to describe their DE&I efforts to more palatable terms like “inclusion and belonging,” hoping to fly under the radar and evade scrutiny. Glasgow said that businesses are too focused on terminology, because they think the language shift will “save” them, but that’s not the case.

Keep reading here.—KP

Beyoncé and Jay Z were both titans in their own right. Jay Z, the first hip-hop billionaire, brought us “Empire State of Mind” and “99 problems,” and I won’t even begin to try and explain the icon that is Beyoncé, a true child of destiny.

Then they got married. Their partnership gave us Tidal, Lemonade, a combined 187 grammy nominations, and even a Blue Ivy-voiced Kiara in Disney’s new Lion King flick, Mufasa.

In the world of payroll and HCM software this week, a new partnership of heavyweights was announced. Paychex, a leading payroll and HCM software company, moved to acquire Cincinnati-based rival, Paycor, for $4.1 billion.

The deal, announced last week, bolsters two major providers of payroll and HCM solutions on the market. Paychex, a leader in payroll solutions for small and medium businesses, provides pay checks for one in 12 Americans in the private sector. Paycor solutions are utilized by larger enterprise clients upmarket and in recent years has worked to expand its offerings beyond payroll and finance services for HR teams, features making it alluring for an acquisition.

Keep reading here.—AD

For most people, landing a dream job either involves grinding nonstop until you achieve it, or serendipitously falling into it.

For Dannie Lynn Fountain, a benefits accommodations people consultant at Google, the journey to disability inclusion advocacy work in corporate America was a mix of the two.

After holding several roles in departments including sales and marketing at Google, while also running her own HR consultancy, she transitioned into HR in 2021 before landing her current role, where she supports disabled employees with workplace accommodations, in 2023. “It was just like personal and professional finally merged,” Fountain told HR Brew.

Fountain is one of many people who had a "disability journey" with being autistic during the early pandemic lockdowns. Quickly, she became aware of the hurdles and stigmas that disabled workers experience around disability disclosure and accommodation requests. She also became aware of how widespread the issue is in corporate America: While 90% of companies claimed to care about DE&I in 2022, only 4% were focused on disability inclusion, according to the World Economic Forum.

Keep reading here.—PM

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