Know when to fish, and when to cut bait

I spent last week on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. If you’ve never been there, do yourself a favor a take a trip. It's about as perfect of a vacation spot you can find in the continental 48 (see sunset below).

On the last day of our vacation, my family took a dolphin cruise through the Calibogue Sound. It was a hands-on trip for the kids. They got to cast a fishing net, pull up a crab pot, and fish for shark. The ship’s captain told us that they usually catch a lot of shark. For example, the day earlier they had reeled in 19, including two baby hammerheads. So, it was with much excitement that my daughter cast her line into the sound. After about 5 minutes (an eternity for a 6-year-old) she started asking when she would catch her shark. My wife explained that fishing is more about patience and relaxation than actually catching fish. As you would imagine, that did not go over so well with my newly minted 1st grader, although she did stick with it and enjoyed the experience. We, however, were not the only ones having issues. The captain moved the boat to what he hoped would be more fertile water. It wasn’t. She moved again, hoping the third time would be the charm. It wasn’t, and she had to call it a day. Indeed, on our cruise, only one lone shark was reeled in (by the boy next to us, much to my daughter’s chagrin).

As I am wont to do when I am not blogging, I began to think about what this tale could teach you, my readers. Much like fishing, in dealing with marginally performing workers, employers must know when to fish and when to call it a day. And, much like our ship’s captain, you usually don’t quit at the 1st sign of failure.

Employees are investments—of time, training, salary, and benefits. Unless an employee commits an egregious violation of the rules that cannot be tolerated, most deserve multiple chances to prove themselves worthy. Performance problems are not terminable offenses; they are teaching opportunities. Use them to hone your employees, and only terminate when an employee proves himself or herself un-teachable. You will be surprised how many employees you can rehabilitate (and investments you can save) merely by resisting the urge to cut bait too early on your marginal performers.

I’ll miss experiencing the sunsets at Harbour Town, but I’m happy to be home, and, believe it or not, happy to be back at work.

(If you’re interested in reading more about our vacation—and who wouldn’t be—you can jump over to my wife’s blog).

Best of: Despite what some think, employers do not set out to discriminate

Despite what some think, employers do not set out to discriminate:

http://www.ohioemployerlawblog.com/2012/03/despite-what-some-think-employers-do.html

Best of: 10 thoughts for your mobile device policy

10 thoughts for your mobile device policy:

http://www.ohioemployerlawblog.com/2012/02/10-thoughts-for-your-mobile-device.html

Best of: Disability discrimination law in Ohio is a mess

Disability discrimination law in Ohio is a mess:

http://www.ohioemployerlawblog.com/2012/01/disability-discrimination-law-in-ohio.html

See also Courts are finally starting to apply ADAAA—and it ain’t pretty:

http://www.ohioemployerlawblog.com/2012/03/courts-are-finally-starting-to-apply.html

Best of: “Friending” co-workers depends on your level of organizational risk tolerance

“Friending” co-workers depends on your level of organizational risk tolerance:

http://www.ohioemployerlawblog.com/2012/01/friending-co-workers-depends-on-your.html

See also Latest stats about supervisors being “Facebook friends” with employees reveals interesting generational data:

http://www.ohioemployerlawblog.com/2012/02/latest-stats-about-supervisors-being.html

Best of: Trying to make sense of the NLRB’s lastest social media missive? Good luck

Trying to make sense of the NLRB’s lastest social media missive? Good luck:

http://www.ohioemployerlawblog.com/2012/01/trying-to-make-sense-of-nlrbs-lastest.html

WIRTW #228 (the “Sound Odyssey” edition)

Where were you in 1983? I was in the 5th grade at Loesche Elementary School in Northeast Philly. I’ll get back to 1983 in a second.

Today is my daughter’s last day of kindergarten. Her (amazing) teacher (see #13 below) assigned the class a time capsule project. Each child had to answer 14 questions, which, along with a letter from mom and dad, will be sealed in a time capsule, to be opened at their graduation in 2024. Here’s my daughter’s submission:

When I posted this photo to Facebook, one of my grade school classmates reminded me of the time capsule our 5th grade class buried in 1983. He even had the article from The Jewish Times discussing the project (page 1 / page 2). For the record, I sacrificed the instruction manual from our Smurfs ColecoVision game. I’m not sure what’s more shocking, that I’m admitting to owning a Smurfs game, or that people paid $569.99 for a VCR (check out the Sound Odyssey ad at the bottom of page 2, and bonus points to anyone who can name any other store that was in the Leo Mall).

I am taking a much needed vacation next week. Enjoy some of my greatest hits spanning the past 6 months. I’ll be back on June 11 with brand new content.

---

Thanks to Tom Mighell for featuring me on Wednesday as the Blawg of the Day at Inter Alia. Tom’s blawg is one of the originals, dating all the way back to 2002. It’s always nice to be recognized by one of the trailblazers.  

---

Here’s the rest of what I read this week:

Discrimination

• Employee “loses track of time” due to disability — from Walter Olson’s Overlawyered
• Up in smoke: Hopes of ADA protection for medical marijuana use are dashed … for now, anyway — from Robin Shea’s Employment and Labor Insider
• The ADA does not protect medical-marijuana use, but… — from Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
• USERRA’s Statute of Limitations — from Molly DiBianca’s Delaware Employment Law Blog
• Crude, Bullying, and Despicable Workplace Conduct Does not Create Hostile Work Environment based on Sexual Harassment — from Jason Shinn’s Michigan Employment Law Advisor
• Company’s wording of termination letter, which mentioned employee’s disability leave, was direct evidence of discrimination — from Employment Law Matters
• ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Bachelorette’: Inside the Racial Discrimination Lawsuit — from Jennifer Pozner at The Daily Beast

Litigation

• Surprise! Study Finds That Everyone Hates Employment Litigation — from Mark Toth’s Manpower Employment Blawg
• You’re Damned if You Don’t Take the Right Steps After Being Sued — from damnedif
• Litigation is Not War, Nor Should it Be — from San Antonio Employment Law Blog

Social Media & Workplace Technology

• Trash Your Social Media Policy — from Heather Bussing at HR Examiner
• NLRB Releases Memo on Social Media Policies — from Phil Miles’s Lawffice Space
• Homeland Security reveals hundreds of words that could put you on their online watch list — from Boy Genius Report
• Who Owns Social Media? Risk Management? — from SocialFish
• The Password Debate: What’s an Employer to Do? — from Technology for HR
• Michigan Federal Court Adopts Narrow Interpretation of Civil Liability Under Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — from Trading Secrets

HR & Employee Relations

• Summer Reading: Is the “Mommy Porn” in “Fifty Shades of Grey” Workplace Safe? — from Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog
• How to handle sexual misconduct at work — from Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
• What the 1990s taught us about abusive work environments — from David Yamada’s Minding the Workplace
• Watch Where You Turn Up the Volume — from New York Times
• Treat Your Terminations as “For Cause” (Even When They’re “At Will”) — from Litigation PostScript
• Can Task-Based Employment Really Work? — from The Proactive Employer Blog
• Whistleblowers: Why you should heed their warnings — from Fortune
• Employee Handbook Version 2.Awesome — from Workplace Prof Blog
• Dear Evil Skippy: I Caught My “Temporarily Disabled” Employee Out Shopping — from Evil Skippy at Work

Wage & Hour

• 5 Steps to Better Wage & Hour Law Compliance — from Blogging4Jobs
• Wage and Hour Violations in the New Economy: A Tricky Business for Employers and Employees Alike — from Employment Lawyer Blog
• What Is A “9/80” Pay Plan? — from Wage and Hour Laws Blog
• Paycheck Fairness Act Moves Forward — from Washington D.C. Employment Law Update
• Fairness Doctrine — from We Know Next
• In FMLA-leave cases, here’s why employers' counsel always should depose the family member the employee claims needs to be “cared for” — from Mike Maslanka’s Work Matters
• Must an Employer Designate FMLA Leave When the Employee Does Not Want to Use FMLA Leave, or When the Employee Fails to Mention FMLA? — from Jeff Nowak’s FMLA Insights

Labor Relations

• Unions Restrict What Workers Can Get Paid — from Michael Haberman’s Omega HR Solutions
• Appellate Court Credits Employer’s Challenge of Mock Card Check Ceremony During Union Campaign — from Labor Relations Counsel