Dear Santa:

I've been a little down lately. Our friend and colleague, Michael Lavenant, will be buried today. And I'm still feeling for the residents of Newtown, Connecticut, and what a grim holiday this will be for them.

So, what do we want for Christmas? Most of us sure don't need more stuff -- maybe you can give our stuff to someone who is unemployed, or to someone who can't work because of an ...

(As the agencies and courts enter their year-end flurry of mischief, I'll be doing quick posts as needed on the latest developments.)

Dum-da-dum-dum!

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has adopted essentially the Strategic Enforcement Plan that I posted about earlier this year. The final version has added "equal pay enforcement" to its list of high priorities. Here is the ...

Michael Lavenant, head of our Los Angeles County, California, office, died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack on December 12, after returning home from an exercise session. Michael was only 42 years old, and is survived by his wife and high school sweetheart, Dana, and his three children. Here is an article that appeared late last week in Michael's local newspaper.

Michael's ...

We're already into the seventh day of Chanaukkah, and Christmas is only eight short shopping days away ("I've gotta get that football helmet!"), so it must be time for a post on how employers should handle the holidays in the workplace.

Suzanne Lucas of The Evil HR Lady has a depressing-but-funny post about the lamest employee Christmas gifts ever.

And, only slightly off-topic, you may ...

Remember that Supreme Court decision involving alleged retaliation based on an oral complaint of violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act? The plaintiff in the case is now going to get a jury trial.

In its 2011 decision in Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., the Supreme Court found that an informal, oral complaint could be "protected activity" under the FLSA and ...