Tag: Employment law

Diversity Day

LITIGATION VALUE:  $800,000 If I represented Kelly, I think my opening statement would say something like this: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here today because Kelly Kapoor’s right to work in an environment free of discrimination was violated when her boss, Michael Scott, repeatedly made negative comments about her heritage culminating in an […]

New EEO-1 Form Must Be Used Starting in Fall

by Amy M. McLaughlin The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) require certain employers to submit an EEO-1 report to provide specific demographic information about their workforce. The EEO-1 report has been revised, and beginning in September 2007, you’ll be required to use […]

Stay Tuned

LITIGATION VALUE: The jury is still out . . . NBC will not be airing an episode tonight but be sure to check back next week when NBC will show five episodes containing the most egregious workplace violations imaginable. Toby, our own HR Hero, will be hosting the fun-filled evening. I don’t want to spoil […]

The “Newpeats”

LITIGATION VALUE: STILL 300,000+ (for the time being. . . ) I don’t think that the “newpeats” introduced any new story lines that would significantly increase the litigation value for these episodes – for the time being. It would, after all, be harder to make things much worse. Having a regional manager tell a Hispanic […]

Office Newpeats

I’m excited for this Thursday’s “newpeat.”  NBC will show two previously aired episodes (“Traveling Salesman” and “Oscar’s Return“) combined with new, never-before-seen moments.  One can only assume these never aired moments will include the antics we have come to expect from the Dunder Mifflin gang!  Stay tuned for my analysis on Friday.

The Merger

LITIGATION VALUE: Two weeks pay. Michael’s theory that a merger is like a marriage is an interesting one. He just seems to have forgotten that more than half of all marriages end in divorce. This week’s “divorce” was with Anthony Gardner, the employee Michael drove away with his crazy antics. Indeed, if it wasn’t bad […]

Some further thoughts from “Branch Closing”

There is a right way to announce a reduction in force to employees. Going around the office muttering phrases such as “do your work while you still can” or “it doesn’t matter, we’ll be gone in a few weeks anyway” under your breath isn’t it. In the real world, a company planning a RIF should […]

Branch Closing

LITIGATION VALUE: $150,000 in defense costs — unless (and that is a big unless) the WARN Act applies. Call me crazy, but announcing “we’re screwed” is not the best way to tell employees that the Company is closing down its branch. Not only does it create turmoil among the employees, but it comes nowhere close […]

Playing at Work and Working at Play

by Boyd Byers Every office has at least one. The guy who stockpiles Star Wars action figures in his cubicle. Or the gal with the Hello Kitty screen saver who jams to the same music as her teenage daughter. Twenty years ago, they would have been considered immature and unprofessional. Today, they’re more likely to […]

Dwight on SNL

Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) is hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend. I’m looking forward to watching it. I’ll post early next week if there’s anything on the show that relates to the blog.