Weekend Roundup: Sexual harassment policies, COVID-19 and Paid Leave, Background Checks

In this week’s Weekend Roundup, the activist who created the #GrabYourWallet campaign has published a database of arbitration policies for sexual harassment of roughly 500 companies. The topic of paid leave benefits due to the coronavirus has hit Capitol Hill. In other headlines, a recent study shows C-suite executives often dodge background checks. Click the headlines below to learn more.

Database Aims to Expose Companies That Make Employees Arbitrate Sexual Harassment Claims

The activist behind the #GrabYourWallet campaign, which urged boycotts of retailers carrying products from Trump family businesses, has a new target: the confidential procedures used by many employers to bury sexual harassment claims.

Using the same spreadsheet-style activism she did with #GrabYourWallet, Shannon Coulter emailed some 500 companies, asking detailed questions about their forced arbitration policies for sexual harassment, which require employees to resolve complaints out of court. She and her partners, Social Impact Investor Rachel Robasciotti and Principal Iris Kuo, then published their answers—or lack thereof—on a public site, listing contact details for company representatives.

As Virus Spreads, Washington Weighs Helping Workers Without Paid Leave

As the new strain of coronavirus—and the respiratory illness it causes, known as COVID-19—spreads, the government is encouraging employers to be lenient with paid leave benefits for workers who have the disease and others who may be quarantined after exposure to someone with the virus.

Last year, 73 percent of private industry workers in the U.S. had paid-sick-leave benefits available from their employers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, leaving a sizable number of workers without paid leave if they fall ill.

Executives Warrant More Thorough Background Screens

Research finds that CEOs and other C-suite executives often slip around companies’ background screening policies when they are the very people most in need of comprehensive vetting.

Slightly over one-third of HR leaders surveyed by background screening firm HireRight said that recent college graduates undergo more background screening than the CEO, and just one-third said that they always verify the background of new executives.

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