Weekly Wrap: Muslim Discrimination, Fired in Philly, and HR Issues at QB

It’s been a busy week here at TLNT, and we seem to have picked up a lot of new readers recently. So that makes me wonder: are you getting anything out of this weekly round-up of management, HR, and workplace news?

Every Friday, I put together TLNT’s Weekly Wrap where I highlight and summarize a few interesting workplace news items you may have missed while you were busy doing your job. It’s TLNT’s way to help keep you updated and informed.

I have heard from many of the regular TLNT readers about how they feel about the Weekly Wrap (most say they like it), but I would love to hear what some of the newer readers think. Is it useful and interesting, or am I missing something here? I’d like to know, so please attach a comment here, or send it directly to me via e-mail (john@tlnt.com). Tell me what you like and don’t like, or what you would like me to do differently.

Yes, this is a weekly round-up of news, trends, and information from the world of HR and talent management. I round it up so you don’t have to:

HR lessons from a pro quarterback controversy — Even if you’re not a football fan, you’ll appreciate the HR implications in a controversy over who the coach should play at quarterback. The Philadelphia Inquirer looked at the issues that Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid is going through and pronounced that, “what makes the football scenario different from a corporate one is that ‘you usually don’t have two people occupying the same position,’ said consultant Chet Zoltak, former human resources head at AmerisourceBergen Corp., who now heads Strategic Learning Group.” There’s more interesting stuff here – especially about football and the issue of succession planning – but it is a little bit of a stretch because as the newspaper notes, “most folks do not land jobs as starting quarterbacks for the Eagles.”

Health care reform changes start to kick in – The first of the health care reform changes started to take effect this week, but as this article by Kaiser Health News points out, although the changes have begun “the process is anything but over.” In fact, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation does a great job of breaking down all the recent changes here and even produced this video narrated by Cokie Roberts (see below) that seems a bit simplistic at first blush but is designed to help get people who have perhaps tuned out of a lot of this discussion to get up to speed now that health care reform is becoming a reality.

Muslims find growing workplace discrimination – A story in The New York Times reports that a record number of Muslim workers in the U.S. “are complaining of employment discrimination, from co-workers calling them ‘terrorist’ or ‘Osama’ to employers barring them from wearing head scarves or taking prayer breaks.” And, it seems to be getting worse. “There’s a level of hatred and animosity that is shocking,” said Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney of the E.E.O.C.’s Phoenix office. “I’ve been doing this for 31 years, and I’ve never seen such antipathy toward Muslim workers.”

Fired in Philadelphia — Remember that director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority who was on leave after being accused by several women of sexual harassment, among other things? Well, his leave has now been made permanent. As the Philadelphia Daily News puts it, “There were two Carl Greenes – the brilliant but maniacal housing executive and the lecherous boss who pursued female employees and then allegedly harassed them out of the Philadelphia Housing Authority.” Most in the City of Brotherly Love seem happy to see him go, even as they give Greene some backhanded compliments. “He’s a flawed genius. He is like a great athlete with a drug problem. He’s the Tiger Woods of public housing,” PHA board chairman John Street said.” Comparing him to Tiger Woods? That’s not how one woman who said she was harassed put it.

Your high school English teacher would approve of this – You may not have noticed, but today is National Punctuation Day, and this writer for the St. Petersburg Times probably expresses the feelings of many as you sort through your e-mail in box when she writes, “I despair for humanity when I open an e-mail that bristles with so many exclamation points I can hardly make out the words in between them. And those are just the press releases about library events.” Yes, National Punctuation Day is worth celebrating, so do it right by going out doing something wild – like maybe using a semi colon properly.