High court will hear case alleging racial harassment in workplace The Supreme Court will consider a case that could clarify rules surrounding liability for workplace harassment. Companies are liable when supervisors harass the people they oversee, but lower courts have differed in their interpretation of who counts as a supervisor. This case, which involves incidents alleged to have happened at Ball State University, could help resolve the definition of "supervisor." Reuters (11/23)

• What companies can learn from cities that attract millennials
  Cities that recognize the value millennials add to the workforce have launched initiatives to attract younger workers, Spark Hire CEO Josh Tolan writes. For example, Niagara Falls, N.Y., looks to attract recent graduates by offering student-loan help, and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl reaches out to graduates via e-mail, encouraging them to stay in the city. "There's plenty your company can learn from these cities to attract the best and brightest," Tolan writes. Mashable (11/25)      

• Do you use these counterproductive recruiting tactics?
  Companies often waste resources by redesigning their career pages on a whim and by advertising every job opening on their social networks, Jonah Manning writes. Also, they often track meaningless statistics such as how many potential candidates "like" their job openings. Blogging4Jobs (11/25)      

• Communication is key to meeting benefits challenges, expert says
  Employers that want to understand key provisions of the Affordable Care Act are focusing on various benefit-reporting requirements, including the four-page benefits summaries that employers will need to provide workers, says Julie Stich, director of research at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. These summaries will be crucial to help employees understand the value of their benefits plans, which is why they should be comprehensive and easy to read, Stich says. The Employee Benefits Blog (11/20)      

• Boeing may not extend survivor pension benefits to gay spouses
  Boeing says it may not offer survivor benefits to the spouses of gay employees, citing growing pension obligations. The issue was brought up during negotiations with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace. The Seattle Times (11/25)      

• Commentary: Pregnant workers need more legal protection
  The Pregnancy Discrimination Act contains many loopholes that enable employers to force out pregnant workers instead making accommodations, writes Arjun Sethi, a lawyer. Legislation being considered in Congress would close many of these loopholes by giving pregnant workers the same legal protections that disabled workers receive under the Americans with Disabilities Act. CNN (11/26)      

Featured Content

• 4 keys to leading change in your workplace
  Workplace cultures driven by values and high performance do not happen by accident or by a leader declaring that change will occur, S. Chris Edmonds writes. "People change only when they see their leaders consistently model desired behaviors. Therefore, to change their organization's or team's culture, leaders must define, demonstrate, and reinforce their desired culture," he writes. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership (11/20)      

• Nevada may repeal anti-communist hiring law
  A Nevada law from the 1950s that allows employers to fire communists or deny them employment could be repealed next year. Similar federal laws were repealed by Congress in 1971. Las Vegas Review-Journal (11/23)      

Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Workforce readers in the past week.

• Study: Lack of women in critical positions hurts pay equality (The Washington Post)

• Why job roles shouldn't be set in stone (TalentMgt.com)

• Why your talent strategy needs automatic succession planning (The Seamless Workforce blog)

• Affordable Care Act rules would allow bigger payouts for healthy behavior (The New York Times (tiered subscription model))

• Federal worker settles lawsuit for $175,000 (The New York Times (tiered subscription model))

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

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The passion for setting people right is in itself an afflictive disease." --Marianne Moore, American poet and writer