DOL official gets his job back.

The freedom of speech afforded by the First Amendment is remarkably broad. Several categories of speech, including even “hate speech,” are afforded varying degrees of protection.

However, the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment is not without limits, even for public sector employees. Governmental employees who voice their opinions — even on matters of legitimate public concern – are well served to choose their words, as well as the times and forums in which they communicate those words, very carefully.

Just ask Michael Todd Snipes, a former law enforcement captain for the Beach Safety and Ocean Rescue Department in Volusia County, Florida. Capt. Snipes was fired for making racially insensitive comments on his Facebook page and in group text messages sent to several of his fellow officers.

In freedom of speech cases, the context in which a thought or idea is communicated often matters a great deal. Although there is never a good time to make racially insensitive remarks, Capt. Snipes’ timing was particularly ill-considered.

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 ...

Employers, imagine that a retaliation charge has been filed against your company. What can you do to make the EEOC investigator love you?

Late last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its final Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues, accompanied by a Q&A, and a Small Business Fact Sheet.

I had three fairly detailed blog posts on the ...

These will be really quick takes, since there are so many of them, on the proposed Enforcement Guidance on National Origin Discrimination issued this week by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (The actual document is 57 pages long, not counting the table of contents.)

I'll try to focus on the less obvious/more interesting points.

Take No. 1: "National ...

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 ...

Who's been naughty and who's been nice in labor and employment law? Here are my picks for 2015. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

NAUGHTY!

The National Labor Relations Board, for being naughty in too many ways to mention. Its rules on employer handbook policies, including confidentiality and social media, are unrealistic and almost impossible for employers to legally follow ...

Well, it's that time of year again - what are you thankful for? Here are some Human Resources and employment law matters for which I am thankful. Please feel free to add your own in the comments.

I'm thankful that I'm not Trey Gowdy. The Republican Congressman from South Carolina and chair of the House Benghazi Committee is not out, but he's definitely down -- for the moment. He's ...

Is "digital native" the latest code term for "young"?

A hot topic for the past few days, after an article on the subject appeared in Fortune, has been whether it's discriminatory for an employer to specify in recruiting that it's seeking to hire "digital natives." A "digital native" is someone who was born into the digital world, which supposedly means people born in 1990 and later.

No, not that kind of egg.

This kind of egg:

Eggs - human eggs, aka ova - have been in the news this week. First, it was announced that Facebook and Apple will begin offering insurance coverage for female employees to freeze their eggs for later fertilization and implantation, a procedure that can cost as much as $20,000. There are mixed feelings about this - on the one hand, some women ...