In recent years, the food service industry has been rife with workplace health safety issues. Food service workers have been attacked, stabbed, shot, and killed by customers in the restaurants where they work. According to one study, between 2017 and 2020, at least 77,000 violent or threatening incidents took place at California fast-food restaurants. Recent data indicate that the cost of workplace violence could be as much as $56 billion annually – and that’s likely an undercount. However, workplace health and safety issues are not limited to customer violence. Workers have also been made to work under unsafe and unsanitary conditions, such as restaurants with high kitchen temperatures and restaurants infested with vermin.
Read moreNew SEC Rules Undermine Lobbying Disclosure Proposals
Since 2011, investors have filed over 600 shareholder proposals asking for lobbying disclosure reports that include federal and state lobbying amounts, payments to trade associations and social welfare groups used for lobbying, and payments to tax-exempt organizations that write and endorse model legislation. The proposal has been voted on at nearly 400 companies, produced more than 125 settlements for improved disclosure, and notched 13 majorities, including Exxon and McDonald’s.
Read moreBig Tech Lobbies Against Child Safety
The exponential growth of online child sexual exploitation, cyberbullying, and teen mental health issues is directly linked to the growth of social media. These negative impacts on children and teens are primarily due to algorithms designed to send streams of unsolicited materials that entice children into online engagements with strangers, exploit their personal data, and keep them online for longer periods of time at the same time that age verification features remain insufficient, enabling adults and children to pretend to be different ages – increasing the rates of child sexual abuse.
Read moreA Human Rights Due Diligence Framework for Artificial Intelligence
The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by companies has the potential to unleash broad-based economic prosperity by enhancing employee productivity. But, it also carries risks to workers’ rights as AI algorithms increasingly set productivity quotas, make human resource decisions, and direct workers on how to perform their jobs. For example, the use of AI in human resources decisions can result in unlawful employment discrimination.
Read moreAlphabet's AI-Driven Target Ads Pose Human Rights Risks
As the development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence (AI) continue to grow at remarkable rates, the significant potential benefits of AI are mirrored by equally significant potential risks, such as disinformation and data insecurity.
Read moreShareholders Support Corporate Workplace Diversity Regardless of Politics
President Trump’s DEI-related executive orders, and the implications they have on the private and corporate sectors, have caused disruption to longstanding employment practices. There have been concerns raised around the legality and risks of collecting and sharing data on a company’s workforce and utilizing that data to strengthen its human capital management strategies as it relates to its diverse staff. The concerns being raised may feel like new additions to the corporate reporting landscape; however, they are similar to what we heard from 2018 to 2020 around the EEO-1 disclosure form (a government-mandated form showing a company’s demographic workforce data by sex, race, and ethnicity).
Read moreStrong Shareholder Support for Code of Conduct for Corporate Political Spending
It’s head spinning to watch the second Trump administration unfold. Daily directives – many unlawful – from Washington have upended the nation. Grant freezes, proposed tariffs, mass deportations, and ending federal DEI programs; attempted dissolution of congressionally created executive agencies; and restrictions on shareholder proposals are overwhelming.
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