Employment Law Optimism to start your week.
After skipping a week, we’re back with another installment of Monday Morning Good Things for Employees!! Last week was another slow week, but here are some positive things employees can focus on:
The Fight for $15 was revived last week in Illinois! A new bill was set to be introduced, advocating for an increase in the state’s minimum wage (which is currently $8.25 per hour), which would gradually increase to $15 by 2022. Fingers crossed this bill passes.
The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDot) has extended its paid parental leave policy. This comes days after after Missouri Governor Eric Greitens issued an executive order increasing the amount of paid parental leave his executive branch employees receive. Now, MoDot will give primary caregivers six weeks of paid leave, and secondary caregivers three weeks of paid leave. Missouri is not known for its progressive employee practices so this is particularly encouraging.
A group of female tech veterans started Project Include as a way to better address the gender discrimination in the tech industry. This project seeks to improve gender inclusivity by offering recommendations on various topics, ranging from how to develop a code of conduct to expanding benefit programs.
Another way to address sex discrimination and sexism in the tech industry is by hiring more women and that is exactly what YouTube has done. Ever since CEO Susan Wojcicki came on board in 2014, the company has increased its number of female workers from 24 to 30%. While there is still work to do, this is definitely a great improvement.
There you have it! Do you know of any Good Things or encouraging news for employees? If so, please comment or email us directly so it can be included in next week’s post!
