Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Posts focus on what not to do in the workplace, based on examples from television, film, and other popular media.
Ever flip through the channels on a lazy Saturday afternoon and come across an oldie but goodie? This happened to me recently with the movie Office Space, a workplace classic. While I can’t imagine a world where everyone hasn’t seen Office Space, here is a quick plot summary. Peter Gibbons (played by Ron Livingston, pictured […]
Although Downton Abbey focuses on the upstairs/downstairs dynamics of the fictional aristocratic Crawley family and their staff, there are still some lessons that contemporary employers may take from the show. For instance, in a recent episode, the staff dealt with the sudden resignation of second footman Alfred, as he was accepted into the Ritz cooking […]
You don’t have to try very hard these days to find employment law references in pop culture. Movies and TV shows examine issues of employment discrimination, politicians seem unable to resist the urge to text photos of their private parts to their disgusted subordinates, and professional athletes provide ample fodder for lawyers in desperate search […]
I’m beginning to feel my age. Last night, a good friend celebrated a milestone birthday (I won’t say which milestone, but you can probably guess). His wife asked everyone to come in 1970s garb or as a character from the decade, so I went as J.R. Ewing. Our babysitter (born in 1995) had no idea […]
If there is one thing that is universal about the entertainment world, it’s that it makes us all feel inadequate. Yes, with the airbrushed photos and the digital editing techniques, the stars and starlets who grace the covers of magazines and show up on the big screen all seem to have something (or multiple things) […]
If your Google search for “California cheerleaders illegal” led you here, our apologies for your initial disappointment. But, please, stay a while, because the recently filed class action lawsuit by the Raiderette cheerleaders against the NFL’s Oakland Raiders is instructive as to the types of issues that can lead to wage-and-hour litigation. Do we have […]
Back in August 2013, I wrote about the Biogenesis scandal that resulted in the suspension of 13 major and minor league baseball players, including a 211-game suspension for Alex Rodriguez. Well, thanks to A-Rod, this story has become the gift that keeps on giving. On January 11, 2014, Arbitrator Frederic R. Horowitz issued his decision […]
When they asked me to join the rotation of writers for Ford Harrison’s EntertainHR blog, I was a little nervous. After all, while we Minnesotans make headlines for things like our weather (the high temperature here last Monday was 13 degrees below zero) and electing professional wrestlers to high political office, we haven’t had a […]
I have a complicated relationship with thick biographies. Intellectually, I know I should sit there and wade my way through the thick prose devoted to men and women of great consequence. In a way, it’s like broccoli: “Go on, eat it – it’ll be good for you, and what do you mean, ‘I’m not hungry’?” […]
Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson and his family are most likely not enjoying a Happy Happy Happy Holiday after his recent GQ interview hit newsstands. In the interview, Robertson is quoted as saying: “It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: […]