I don't know what to make of the study, conducted by business professors from the University of Michigan and Temple University, that purports to find a negative correlation between political conservatism among some law firm partners and the advancement of the careers of female attorneys in reporting to those same partners.

To put that in plainer English: According to this study

"The boss is a jerk. I dread coming to work every day. I'm treated unfairly. Everyone else gets better treatment than I do. My pay stinks, and my company's paid-time-off policy leaves much to be desired. I should sue!"

The Daily Mail had an article this week about "the moment [employees] started hating their jobs," based on a Reddit discussion thread entitled "What work ...

Oh, for cryin' out loud.

Last week, a high school principal in Bangor, Maine, banned a math teacher from having a little pink Christmas holiday Hello Kitty tree in her classroom for the holidays. She says she was told it was too "religious," although I'm still trying to figure out what religion Hello Kitty is associated with.

The teacher was irritated, rightfully so, and went on Facebook ...

Happy Boss's Day to all you bosses out there! In honor of the occasion, I reflected on all of the people who have bossed me around throughout my life (very few of whom were my employers, yuk-yuk). Seriously, at every stage of my working life, my best bosses had some or all of these character traits.

No. 1 - He's a mentor-teacher. We learn from good bosses, whether we're a ...

T.J. Simers, a well-known former sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times, is suing the Times for age and disability discrimination. We're providing regular coverage of the jury trial, which is expected to last about four more weeks. For the background on Mr. Simers' termination, go here. For the testimony of Mr. Simers' psychiatrist earlier this week, go here.

Duel of the ...

Are Human Resources representatives advocates for employees, or shills for the corporate bigwigs?

I suppose you've been following the story about how Amazon (1) is the worst place in the world to work, (2) no it isn't, (3) anyway, the New York Times didn't do good research and based its story on too many anecdotes, and (4) yes, it did do good research, and anyway how are you supposed to do a ...

According to the New York Post, the City of New York fired an employee for missing too much work. Turns out that he had a very good reason for his no-call/no-show: he was dead.

Geoffrey Tolliver, a Medicaid eligibility specialist for the City, went out on a medical leave of absence for cancer in November 2013, and he passed away in December 2014. The City recently moved to terminate his ...

"An apple a day keeps the doctor lawyer away." Here are five easy and inexpensive things that employers can do to minimize their risk of being sued and maximize their chances of victory if they do get sued. None of these involve major expense, or even the use of lawyers.

1. Err on the side of treating your workers as (a) non-exempt and (b) "employees." Let this be your default ...

It's been a hectic week for me (I have a trial coming up), and so here are some links to employment law blog posts and workplace news items that I hope will entertain and edify.

5 Things Your Manager Doesn't Want You to Know. By the great Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas. (Just to whet your appetite, the first is "I can't fire you.")

Can Employee Display a ...

March 22, 2015

Dear Diary:

Well, I got to Starbucks this morning, and Xander told me I didn't have to worry about that #RaceTogether stuff any more. I was super-excited and super-relieved! Then he told me our new topic to talk about with customers this week - the war on women. #NotanImprovement!      :-(