When should HR call its lawyer?

Yesterday, I read When is an Employee Issue a Legal Issue (and When Is it HR)?, written by Dan Schwartz on his always excellent Connecticut Employment Law Blog. Dan posits that there are some instances when a business almost always should get legal involved with an employee issue, such as when it receives a “lawyer letter”, receives service of an agency charge or lawsuit, needs to conduct a privileged investigation, or confronts a complex or novel legal issue.

I’d like to address this same question from a more macro level.

How much wasted work-time is too much?

According to a recent survey conducted by OfficeTeam, on average, employees spend 8 hours per workweek on non-work activities.

What does this non-work time look like?

What I learned on my summer vacation

Saturday evening my family and I returned from our two-week California vacation. Five nights in Los Angeles, two in Paso Robles (if you ever pass through, I cannot more highly recommend Sculpterra Winery and the Paso Robles Inn), three in Palo Alto (where Donovan participated in a research study seeking a link between Noonan Syndrome and ADHD, and which resulted in both of my kids now wanting to attend Stanford … best of luck to them and me), and three in San Francisco. We had epic adventures, experienced Disney (of course), hiked and biked, enjoyed beautiful scenery, reunited with family and friends, and walked … a lot (72 miles to be precise).

We also learned one valuable HR lesson.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T (just a little bit)

I ain’t gonna do you wrong while you’re gone
Ain’t gonna do you wrong ‘cause I don’t wanna
All I’m askin’
Is for a little respect

– Aretha Franklin, “Respect”

Yesterday, my friend and fellow blogger (with whom I tend to agree most of the time), Suzanne Lucas (aka Evil HR Lady), posted an article about which I could not agree more, Why You Should Rarely Fight an Unemployment Claim.

Communicating with employees is key when a PR crisis strikes

Lots has been said about how United Airlines mishandled violently dragging a passenger from an overbooked flight. And none of it is good. Yet, make no mistake, how United CEO Oscar Munoz communicated with his company’s employees immediately following the incident did not do anything to make it any better.

United CEO email to employees obtained by ABC's @Shahriar44R: "there are lessons we can learn from this experience" pic.twitter.com/N1TbohuRc3

— Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) April 10, 2017

Bring me the head of employment at will

At his always excellent Connecticut Employment Law Blog, Dan Schwartz recently asked the following question: “What Does ‘At Will’ Employment Really Mean?”

Dan argues that while employment at will is still a valid legal doctrine, if a judge or jury cannot view your termination as “fair”, then they will look for another (illegal) justification for your decision. That examination may not go your way.

Valentine’s Day at work

I am a Valentine’s Day scrooge. Yet, for someone who goes out of his way to avoid this forced and commercialized celebration of love, I’ve sure written about it a lot over the years. So, for today’s post, let’s take a jaunt back through the February 14(ish) archives, to examine the intersection of V-Day and the workplace.

“It’s not fair”

Watch this, and then let’s talk about the word fair.

7 tips to avoid the holiday party nightmare

’Tis the season for workplace holiday parties. It a time to reflect on the past year and celebrate all your organization has accomplished. It is also a time to avoid liability, hopefully. A lot can go wrong at a holiday party.

For example, consider Shiner v. State Univ. of N.Y. (W.D.N.Y. 11/2/12).

How do we heal at work after this election season? [Updated]

As someone who’s been blogging as long as I have, nearly all of my life experiences run through my blogging filter. “How can translate this into a blog post about the workplace,” is a question I often ask myself. So this is the place in which I found myself yesterday. “What does a Trump presidency mean for labor and employment law?”

Time off from work to vote

Tuesday is Election Day (oh, thank God). As long as Election Day remains a working day, employees will show up to work late, leave work early, or take long lunches, just so that they can vote.

Ohio law requires that an employer provide all employees a reasonable amount of time off to vote on election day. According to Ohio Revised Code 3599.06:

Atoning for employers’ biggest sins #employmentsins

Today is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, the day on which we make peace with God for all of the sins we’ve committed over the past year. On Rosh Hashanah God writes each person’s name in Book of Life. Over the next 10 days, Jews seek forgiveness for wrongs done against God and other human beings. During Yom Kippur, each individual makes their personal petitions to God, and hopes for forgiveness for the upcoming year. If all goes well, when God closes the Book of Life at the end of Yom Kippur, your name remains and your soul is safe for another year.

From the archives: The art of the apology

I’ve been thinking all weekend whether to write about Donald Trump’s 2005 hot mic embarrassment, and, if so, what I’d write about. After all, I’ve already recently written about plagiarism and your b.s. meter in the wake of Melania Trump’s RNC speech, victim blaming sexual harassment victims in the wake of Donald Trump’s comments about his hope for his daughter’s reaction to workplace harassment, and, perhaps most critically, the importance of discourse in setting appropriate tones and modeling appropriate conduct in the workplace and beyond.

Then I saw Mr. Trump’s non-apology, and I had my theme.

Yes, these are my readers

It’s rare that I write a same-day follow-up post, but an email I received from a reader in response to this morning’s post merits special attention.

The email read as follows:

Your article on why your son hates Donald Trump is way off base. I think it exemplifies why you have not adequately informed your son on the facts such as she could always come here on a tourist visa….. Educate your son and let him know that part of the reason for Trump’s stance on ILLEGAL immigration is because one day an Illegal Immigrant just might take the job he wants to earn more money.

This was my response:

He’s 8, and while brilliant (the apple not falling far from the tree), I think the nuances of immigration policy might be a bit much for him. Besides, we start our policy discussions in the Hyman house with nuclear proliferation. Immigration policy isn’t until he turns 10.

I’m going to assume I now have one less reader, and that’s perfectly fine by me.

Discourse matters

My eight-year-old son hates Donald Trump. I know hate is a strong word. I rarely use it (except when describing the most evil of all condiments, mustard. I hate mustard).

But, Donovan hates Donald Trump. All you have to do is mention his name, and he will tell you how much he hates the Donald, and how he has no room in his life for anyone who thinks any differently.

Over the months of listening to our son tell us of his hatred for Trump we never thought to ask why. Until we did.

A humane approach of layoffs

In addition to this blog, I also pen a monthly column for Workforce magazine. Today, I thought I’d share my most recent column, entitled A Humane Approach to Layoffs. Enjoy.

	Look inside >
A Humane Approach to Layoffs

Don’t forget your b.s. meter when conducting workplace investigations

By now, you’ve likely heard about the plagiarism flap that has embroiled the GOP following Melania Trump’s Monday-night convention speech.

In case you missed it, Melania Trump (or her speechwriter) is accused of copying parts of Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNC speech for Mrs. Trump’s 2016 oration.

Decide for yourself:

On LeBron James and boomerang employees

LeBron James is the world’s greatest boomerang employee. He left Cleveland for Miami in 2010, returned in 2014, and delivered The Land our promised title on June 19, 2016.

What is a boomerang employee?
 

7 tips for employers, from your friendly neighborhood plaintiff lawyer

I found a blog post in which a plaintiff-side employment lawyer shared the 7 things employers don’t do, that they should be doing. The three that jumped off the page to me—

• “With every new potential client, I ask if they received a warning before being terminated. As soon as I hear ‘yes,’ it does slow us down in the march toward litigation.”

• “Juries expect some level of progressive discipline—they think it should be required.”

• “People don’t run to attorneys because they think they’ve got a great legal case. They come to see me because they’re angry about they way they were treated, especially on their way out.”

Essential reading: Harvard Business Review’s step-by-step guide to fire someone

File this under posts I wish I’d written. Yesterday, the Harvard Business Review published A Step-by-Step Guide to Firing Someone.

Firing an employee is the most difficult job any business owner, executive, manager, or HR person has to do. I’ve been there. It absolutely sucks. (And it absolutely sucks even more when the fired employee breaks down and starts crying). HBR synthesizes the process in three essentials tips to handle the decision, and five (not-so-easy) steps for the termination itself.