Friday follow-up: Covid quarantine/isolation, politics at work, and crab people

With the shocking news that Donald and Melenia Trump have tested positive for COVID-19 (along with Hope Hicks, one of Trump's top advisors and key inner-circle members), I thought it is a good time to review the CDC's rules for quarantine (how long you must stay away from others when you've been exposed to someone with Covid) and isolation (how you must stay away from others when you have Covid).

7 tips to manage political discussions at work

Did you watch the Presidential Debate Tuesday night? Do you think it showcased the best of America? If you do, I think you were tuned to the wrong channel. In fact, I'd argue that it was the low point of American presidential campaign history, if not all of Amerian presidential history.

Our country is broken. We are more divided than we have been in 155 years. This division also exists among your employees. Approximately half will be Red/Republican/Trump and the other approximate half will be Blue/Democrat/Biden. Given our 24/7 news cycles, social media, and the overall unavoidability of this election, these issues will bleed into discussions among your employees at work, and outside of work on social media and otherwise. 

Coronavirus Update 9-30-2020: Covid, hazard pay, and overtime

Wage and hour compliance is complicated enough for employers. Layer a pandemic on top of wage and hour compliance, and you have an absolute nightmare for companies.

Consider, for example, hazard pay.

Coronavirus Update 9-29-2020: The 9th nominee for the “worst employer of 2020” is … the covid denier

The human resources manager for a New Hampshire company is suing her former employer after she sent an email about COVID-19 to employees and required two employees to stay home for one week after going on vacations to China and Malaysia. 

She claims company officials told her she was being fired for "exaggerating 'the China Virus.'"

What one debate question would you ask each candidate?

Tomorrow night, a mere 16 miles from my home, President Trump and Vice President Biden will step in front of the cameras to make their respective cases to America in the first of three debates. Eight years ago, some of my blogging friends and I got together to propose the debate questions we'd ask each of the candidates if we had the power to do so. Given the current state of our Republic and what's at stake when we vote, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit this collective idea and do it again. 

Here is are my "one questions" for President Trump and Vice President Biden.

Coronavirus Update 9-25-2020: The show must go on

This year has been challenging for everyone. COVID-19 has forced everyone to be innovative with everything. Case in point, high school theater. 

Tonight and tomorrow Norah will make her theater debut in Lake Ridge Academy's performance of The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon. Norah is playing multiple roles, including what I'm told is a hilarious Crab Person and Little Red (I believe it's red as in the color of her MAGA hat, and not red as in the color of her hood).

Coronavirus Update 9-24-2020: Comorbidities, Covid-19, and your employees

Let's talk about comorbidities. A comorbidity is the simultaneous presence of two chronic diseases or conditions in a patient. In the case of COVID-19, certain comorbidities are known to increase one's risk for a more severe illness.