Don Jacobson is the president of Optimum Supply Chain Recruiters, a recruiting organization that specializes in the placement of management personnel in the logistics field on a nationwide basis. You can reach him by calling Optimum SCR at (800) 300-7609 or by visiting the firm's Web site, www.OptimumSCR.com.
Shelley Safian is vice president of marketing for Optimum Supply Chain Recruiters, a recruiting organization that specializes in the placement of management personnel in the logistics field on a nationwide basis. You can reach her by calling Optimum SCR at (800) 300-7609 or by visiting the firm's Web site, www.OptimumSCR.com.
Log onto the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Web site and it's instantly clear that though it's been nearly 40 years since the agency's founding, its mission of keeping America's workplaces free from discrimination is far from accomplished. Week after week, the EEOC posts pages of updates describing the resolution of a dizzying array of complaints: sexual harassment, discrimination against diabetics, racial bias, religious bias, same-sex harassment, pregnancy bias, national origin bias.
No one wants to become the subject of an EEOC investigation. But companies across the country are dropping into the commission's sights every day. In fiscal year 2002 alone, 84,442 individuals filed charges with the commission, indicating a widespread national ignorance of—or disregard for—federal anti-discrimination laws.
What does all this mean to you as a manager? At the very least, you need to be aware that under federal law, if you recruit, promote, hire or fire an employee, you must do it fairly, equally and without prejudice—considering only the person's skills and contributions to the company and nothing else. Statutes from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibit workplace discrimination and harassment. That means everyone at all levels of management must know the laws, understand them and follow their guidelines. If they don't, the EEOC is there to enforce those laws and investigate workers' complaints.
What follows are answers to some frequently asked questions about harassment and discrimination. For further information, go to the EEOC's Web site (www.eeoc.gov).
What constitutes "discrimination" or "harassment"? Discrimination is the act of treating someone differently from others due to a particular personal characteristic, such as race, gender or age. Harassment, a type of discrimination, is a hostile, offensive or intimidating action that is directed at someone because he or she has a protected personal characteristic. Sexual harassment is a type of gender discrimination and includes unwanted sexual advances.
Do the laws apply to all types of businesses? Most federal employment laws apply only to companies with a minimum number of personnel. According to the EEOC's Web site, the following are the statutory minimums with regard to discrimination laws:
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to employers with fifteen (15) or more employees.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 applies to employers with twenty (20) or more employees.
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 applies to employers with fifteen (15) or more employees.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 applies to most employers with one or more employees.
As you can see, chances are that most or all of these laws apply to your company.
What personal characteristics are protected? The laws make discrimination activities, including harassment, illegal only when the bias is based on at least one of these categories: race or color; gender; pregnancy or childbirth; national origin (including Native American tribe affiliates); religion; disability; and age (if the person is at least 40 years old). In addition, you should be aware of any state or local laws that may prohibit discrimination against people with additional protected characteristics such as sexual orientation, weight and marital status. (Contact your state department of labor or fair employment office for details on regulations that apply to your company.)
Elements that are specifically considered to be harassing conduct include the use of epithets (such as Giant John or Susan the Fair), mockery (ridicule or derisive imitation), demeaning jokes and cartoons, as well as implied and/or explicit threats of violence.
What types of activities are covered by these laws? It would be hard to name an activity that isn't covered by these laws. The ban against discrimination pertains to all terms, conditions and privileges related to employment in your company, including but not limited to hiring, firing, compensation, benefits, job assignments, shift assignments, promotions and discipline.
There are some minor allowances for exceptions under the laws. In a case where the employer can prove that the characteristic (or lack thereof) is intrinsic to performing the job, it may be able to obtain a bona fide occupational qualification exception. For example, if you're trying to fill a loading dock job that requires the worker to lift 45-pound boxes, you may have legitimate grounds for refusing to hire someone who is pregnant or physically disabled.
Does a complaint necessarily lead to a lawsuit? No. Whether you get sued or not largely depends upon how you handle the initial complaint. To keep out of trouble, managers must take even the hint of a violation seriously! For the most part, those employees (or former employees) who take their complaints to the EEOC are driven there by their supervisors' indifference or inaction. Say an employee goes to the department head with a complaint about harassment or hostility on the part of a section supervisor. The manager who acts on the complaint and works to correct the flawed relationship is likely to avoid a lawsuit. The manager who replies, "Yeah, you two don't like each other, do you?" is almost begging for a call from the EEOC.
Understanding the terms of the laws may help you avoid the problems that come from breaking them, like being sued or fined. But understanding the laws is not enough. You also need to have the right policies in place. Next month, we'll outline five easy steps to compliance with the EEO laws.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.