As we enter the third year of a pandemic that has disproportionately harmed working women, in particular mothers, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) signaled it is refocusing its sights (and potentially its enforcement powers) on caregivers by releasing an updated document on “pandemic-related caregiver discrimination under the law.”

Catch up. The new EEOC guidance issued this month did not establish caregivers (such as parents and those who assist an elderly or disabled family member) as a protected class under federal anti-discrimination laws, but it did remind employers that discrimination against such employees or job seekers might violate the law. The guidance reaffirms that employer actions toward caregivers could catch the EEOC’s eye if they’re based on a protected trait, association with a protected trait, or the intersection of two or more protected traits—for example, “discrimination against Black female caregivers based on racial and gender stereotypes.”

The full guidance includes a technical assistance document, an FAQ, and a document outlining employment best practices to clarify how employers should address employees and job seekers with caregiving responsibilities.

Jim Paul, a labor and employment attorney at Ogletree Deakins, told HR Brew there’s “nothing new here, legally.” In Paul’s opinion, the guidance was seemingly meant to point employers toward the agency’s priorities and educate employees about their options for pursuing complaints.

“I think [the guidance is] signaling an enforcement agenda item—a top-five enforcement agenda item—but more it’s providing useful guidance, generally, to employers and employees, because, guess what? Every employee has access [to the internet] and Google and has that same information… employees are well-armed and know as much as the attorneys generally, if they’re savvy enough to read any of this.” Keep reading here.—SV

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @SusannaVogel1 on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Susanna for her number on Signal.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is used more than ever across HR functions, including initial resume screening, employee engagement, and performance monitoring, but critics say it’s also perpetuating long-standing problems, from bias around language analysis to employee privacy issues.

There’s a flurry of conversation around using AI in HR functions because AI relies on existing datasets and humans with biases develop the technology. Bias in AI-powered hiring software has been identified in recent years, including in 2018 when Amazon shut down its AI recruiting tool because it found it was biased against women.

Policymakers are writing legislation to combat new problems arising from AI, including a new law in New York City that requires AI tech vendors to obtain and display third-party “bias audits” for transparency and accountability. And in February, Democrats in Congress introduced an updated version of a bill, the Algorithmic Accountability Act, which would hold tech companies accountable for algorithmic bias across sectors, from housing to employment.

The ethical and philosophical implications of using AI technology in HR were discussed at length during this month’s HR Transform conference in Las Vegas. Executives from Randstad, Microsoft, Sequoia, and others discussed the best ways to use AI. Here are the biggest takeaways.

Understanding the why behind data analysis will help teams choose the right solution, according to Rajamma Krishnamurthy, senior director, HR technology at Microsoft. She noted that teams must know what problem they’re trying to solve before choosing a solution, and regularly audit data to ensure bias isn’t being built into the system. ”People assume that the perfect mathematical equations are perfect,” Krishnamurthy said, and emphasized that when something goes wrong with AI, “there are only three things: data, data, data.”

EEOC commissioner says...Participating on a panel about AI and ethics, EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling argued that we all have inherent biases that can negatively impact the employment process, and HR professionals often turn to these new technologies in part to try and remove human bias.

Sonderling urged employers to be cautious when choosing where to implement AI tech. “I would say the use of AI to evaluate and score video interview content is one area where I would say it’s extremely high-risk,” explained Sonderling. Keep reading here.—KP

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @Kris10Parisi on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Kristen for her number on Signal.

If you ever find yourself asking, “Is there someone else?” there probably is.

No, HR Brew didn’t take a hard left and pivot into the realm of dating advice—we’re talking about allegations reported in Emerging Tech Brew last week that Google-owned Looker had some of its full-time support team unknowingly train their contractor replacements, while assuring employees that their jobs were perfectly safe.

Then, the company unceremoniously announced that dozens of Looker support employees had 60 days to find a new job internally at Google or they’d be terminated.

Catch up: Google acquired Looker—and its support team, the Department of Customer Love (DCL)—just over two years ago.

According to sources who spoke to Emerging Tech Brew, several months ago, leadership brought in a few teams of contractors from Infosys into the fold and began asking DCL employees to train and mentor them.

When employees expressed worries that they might be off-boarded, sources told Emerging Tech Brew that leadership responded definitively that this was not the case, telling them that “Google doesn’t believe in layoffs.”

The layoffs were “planned months in advance,” according to a Google Cloud exec who spoke at an internal town hall after the layoffs (a recording of which was shared with Emerging Tech Brew), but many managers at Looker were not informed until the day prior, and even Looker’s own head of engineering was unaware until after the fact.

With most full-time employees axed, DCL will now primarily rely on contractors.

Do you get déjà vu? Google isn’t the first company this year to make waves with layoffs.

• Better.com first made headlines by laying off 900 employees on a Zoom and then bested themselves by laying off an additional 3,000, some of whom discovered the news when severance checks appeared in their Workday accounts before company communications hit their inboxes.
• In late 2021, Zillow announced it would lay off 25% of its workforce last year and has continued reductions into 2022.
  

In today’s tight labor market, much of HR’s focus is on how to get hiring right, but there’s an art to layoffs, too. Kris Dunn, SVP of global talent acquisition at Marriott International, shared some best practices with Inc. Magazine.

It’s best to give employees the news “in a personal, private environment,” Dunn said.

If you’ve laid people off using an impersonal pre-recorded message? Dunn said there’s a “special place in hell” for you.

Read all about the Google/Looker layoff situation right here.—SV

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @SusannaVogel1 on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Susanna for her number on Signal.

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: According to a new study from MetLife, 50% of “zillennial” workers consider student-debt assistance a must-have benefit. (via MetLife)

Quote: “Not only does [hiring individuals with criminal records] build a new talent pool of workers to help address the nation’s ongoing labor shortage head-on, but it also gives a second chance to those in need…This movement provides a great opportunity to strengthen businesses and improve inclusiveness in the workplace.”—Brian Matthews, SVP at Appriss Insights, speaking to CNBC’s Make It

Read: As debate over hybrid-work strategies continues, top Meta executives are working from various locations across the world. (WSJ)

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Catch up on the top HR Brew stories from the recent past:

• How the Defense Department’s AI center recruits top tech talent without top salary offers
• Making your workplace inclusive for the disabled starts with job listings
• As workers enter the metaverse, how much privacy will they surrender at the virtual door?