Monday, July 25, 2022

Cursing in the workplace


According to one survey, 57% of American employees admit to swearing at work. (Count me in the "yes" column.)

Where is the line between swearing as harmless workplace banter and swearing as harmful unlawful harassment? The seminal case is Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, which involved the female plaintiff's offense to the salty language used by male co-workers in nearby cubicles.

Friday, July 22, 2022

WIRTW #634: the “%@$&*!” edition


Vacation 💑
I love trivia, even if it doesn't always love me back.

For example, in 1993 my collegiate trivia bowl team lost in the university finals. (For the record, I've always been more than suspicious of the fact that the winning team were fraternity brothers with the quiz master and knew the answer to nearly every question almost too quickly.)

In November 1999, I lacked the fastest fingers on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. ("Where's the proof," you ask? Here you go.)

Thus, when my niece asked if we wanted to do trivia night at a local winery during our visit last week, my answer was a resounding, "Yes!" (For the record, she had me at winery; trivia just provided the exclamation point.)

What's better than trivia night at a winery? Barnstorming into town and winning trivia night at a winery … which is exactly what we did. Correctly answering 16 out of 21 questions earned us a three-way tie for first place, which we broke by naming all seven dwarfs the quickest. 

Of the five questions we answered incorrectly, one stuck with me as the most interesting and obscure. So today I'm sharing it with you.
What is the word for a string of typographical symbols (such as %@$&*!) used in place of an obscenity, especially in comic strips?

Take your best guess in comments, and I'll provide the correct answer on Monday. No Googling!

Here's what I read and listened to this week and last week that I think you should be reading and listening to, too.

Thursday, July 21, 2022

We need to talk about litigation holds and spoliation of evidence


The situation playing out in real time between Congress and the Secret Service over text messages related to the Jan. 6th insurrection is quite the teachable moment on litigation holds and spoliation of evidence.

On Jan. 16, 2021, Congress sent the Department of Homeland Security (which oversees the Secret Service) a broad preservation and production request for documents related to Jan. 6, which included communications "received, prepared or sent" between Jan. 5 and Jan 7. 

Following the Jan. 16 request, the Secret Service explained to employees that it was up to them to preserve records from their phones and provided a step-by-step guide to preserve mobile phone content, including text messages, prior to a phone migration that occurred on Jan. 27. That migration, however, appears to have caused a widespread destruction of data, as the Secret Service has only been able to produce to the Jan. 6 Committee one text message from the critical three-day window.

What went wrong? 

A lot, apparently.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

A modest proposal to revamp continuing legal education credits #CLECreditsforBlogging


"I'm finishing all my CLE credits this week. It amazes me how if you keep up with law changes regularly how out-of-date these CLEs feel."

That's an excerpt of a recent conversation between my friend, Kate Bischoff, and me. Kate is 100 percent correct. I learn very little, if anything from the continuing education courses I take. I take them because the Ohio Supreme Court requires me to check a 24-credit box every two years, not because they offer me any educational value.

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Abortion travel benefits don’t discriminate against non-abortion-seeking pregnant workers


Within hours of the Supreme Court releasing its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and reversing Roe v. Wade, DICK'S Sporting Goods announced that it will provide up to $4,000 in travel expense reimbursement for an employee, spouse, or dependent enrolled in its medical plan (plus one support person) to travel to the nearest location where abortion care is legally available. 

Last week, America First Legal, an ultra-conservative non-profit legal group run by "patriots" such as Stephen Miller and Mark Meadows, filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asking the agency to conclude that DICK'S offering of abortion travel benefits discriminates against female employees who choose to give birth. According to America First Legal Senior Counselor and Director of Oversight Reed D. Rubinstein, "Subsidizing travel for an abortion, while denying an equivalent benefit to a mother welcoming a new baby, is perverse and unlawful."

Monday, July 11, 2022

This is why I (almost) always recommend that employers provide terminated employees a reasonable severance package


Roosevelt Jointer worked as a maintenance supervisor at Tesla from September 2017 until last month. That was when his manager called him over the phone, during Jointer's vacation, to tell him that he had been fired. 

Business Insider quotes Jointer about what was said during that call:
I did not receive any advance notice that I would be losing my job. Up to that point, no one at Tesla ever raised any issues with me regarding my performance.

During this call, my manager told me that I would receive a severance offer over an e-mail and urged me to sign a separation agreement to get a severance payment of one week's salary [and two months of health insurance].

He did not sign the agreement. 

Friday, July 8, 2022

WIRTW #633: the “what I’m listening to” edition


I'm weird. I travel to my office for work every day possible. Not my "home office," but my actual office, inside my law firm, in a building with our name on it. Working in an office, as opposed to working remotely from my home, offers many benefits. I get to collaborate with and better know my co-workers. It fosters a sense of community and belonging within my business. It gets me out of my house (and t-shirts). And it provides a daily commute that enables me to listen to podcasts.

"Which podcasts," you ask? Here's my current Top 5 list (excluding any I've previously recommended to you).

1/ Films To Be Buried With — Hosted by Brett Goldstein (aka Ted Lasso's Roy Kent), each episode features a celebrity guest telling the story of their life through a history of movies (first movie they remember seeing, sexiest movie, best movie, etc.). It's always a compelling and entertaining listen, even when the guest is some British comedian I've never heard of. 

2/ Slow Burn — Each season of this podcast, produced by Slate, tackles, in long form, a political issue from our recent history. Past seasons examined Watergate, Bill Clinton's impeachment, Rodney King and the L.A. Riots, and David Duke. The current 7th season, which examines Roe v. Wade and the history of abortion legislation and politics, is an important listen in this specific time in our history.

3/ The Bittersweet Life — Ever wonder what it's like to live as an expat in a foreign country. This podcast, hosted by one current expat living in Rome and another who's since moved back to the States, makes a pretty compelling case to pitch it all and move to Europe.

4/ Ghost Church — Religion has always fascinated me. Not because I'm particularly religious (I'm not), but because I want to understand what draws others in. In this limited series, comedian Jamie Loftus (check out her other excellent show, My Year in Mensa) explores, investigates, and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums. It's also quite funny without mocking this faith in the least.

5/ Things Fell Apart — I don't think I'm breaking any news by telling you that our country is in the midst of a significant culture war. This BBC podcast examines various pressure points that are currently ripping our country apart (e.g., abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, sex education) by talking to people on both sides of the front lines.

Here's what I read this past week that I think you should be reading, too.