Not every obnoxious workplace behavior is unlawful harassment. To violate federal law, the harassment has to be unwelcome, based on a "protected category" (for example, sex or race), and "severe or pervasive."

But most employers aren't satisfied with banning only "illegal" behavior, and rightfully not. The law does a fairly good job of keeping us from each other's ...

LaLonnie wrote this post with Sandra Sok, who is clerking for the summer in our Denver Office. Sandra is a rising second-year student at the University of Colorado Law School. Before starting law school, she worked as a paralegal while earning her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Irvine.

A law was born.  On June 23, 1972, President Richard Nixon signed into law ...

We officially entered the season of summer this week. What are the most common ways employers can get burned? I can think of four right off the bat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtbhrq8JyBw

(In the 1960s, melanoma was cool.)

Sexist air conditioning. It seems like a long time since we've read anything about this employment law "issue." The idea was that office air conditioning ...

An article in Monday's New York Post discussed misunderstandings that can arise in the workplace based on use of "chat" apps and their associated emoji. A woman interviewed for the article said that she had messaged her co-workers that she would be late for a meeting, and her boss replied with emoji of a "poop" (am I allowed to use that word on this blog?) and a clock.

She was like, what?

I recently complained that Amy Dickson, author of the "Ask Amy" syndicated advice column, had given some poor (or at least premature) employment law advice to a reader. Apparently, a number of her readers expressed similar concerns, and, to her credit, Amy has corrected herself -- twice now.

The first correction appeared this past Monday:

Dear Amy: “Worried Worker” ...

DEAR READERS: Before you accuse me of legal malpractice, take a look at tomorrow's date.  

Habit 1: Discriminate, retaliate, harass -- have a ball! There's a new sheriff in town, with a more employer-friendly, compliance-assistance-oriented U.S. Department of Labor (we think) and the nullification of burdensome regulations like the gone-and-not-lamented Fair Pay and Safe ...

A "print and save" for California employers, to be sure. Richard Bromley and Aaron Rutschman of our Los Angeles-Century City Office have a comprehensive guide to the Golden State's often-confusing laws on paid meal and rest breaks. If you have operations in California, you need to read this and keep a copy for future reference.

The March 2017 edition of ConstangyTV's Close-Up on ...

The next time employers offer sexual harassment training, they might want to require employees to bring their mobile devices.

According to Leah Fessler, virtual assistants Siri (Apple), Alexa (Amazon), Cortana (Microsoft), and Google Home (you have to ask?) need some consciousness-raising.

They are all perpetuating pernicious sexual stereotypes, which Ms. Fessler says can ...

How can an employer best prevent workplace harassment from occurring, and deal with it effectively when it occurs? What would the EEOC say employers should do?

This is my third and final installment on the proposed Enforcement Guidance on Unlawful Harassment, which was recently issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC is accepting comments until ...

Last week, I shared with you what I didn't like about the proposed Enforcement Guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on workplace harassment.

Well, this is warm-and-fuzzy week. Moving on to the parts of the proposed guidance that I thought were well done, I've tried to boil the rest of the proposed guidance into nine key points. I'll do one more post next week ...