An increase to $15 will be phased in over five years.

Federal contractors, will asking applicants to voluntarily self-identify by race -- a request that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs requires you to make -- be used against you in a hiring-discrimination lawsuit?

A recent decision from a federal court in New Jersey indicates that the answer is NO, as long as you handle the information correctly.

In Dougboh v. Cisco ...

Me and my nerdy mind.

It's too soon for me to have an opinion about who's right and who's wrong in the Gretchen Carlson-Roger Ailes sexual harassment case. Some very disturbing allegations have been made about Mr. Ailes' (long before Fox) having a "casting couch" for prospective female talent. If that's true, then it's disgusting.

On the other hand, a number of current and former ...

The Millville, New Jersey, Rescue Squad is apparently quite the Peyton Place, but it's now a legal legend, too, because it was the impetus for the New Jersey Supreme Court to decide that "marital status discrimination" prohibited by the state Law Against Discrimination also includes separation and divorce. If you're an employer with operations in New Jersey, you won't want to miss ...

I was on vacation last week, and so we have a lot of catching up to do. Here's what's been going on, from most to least recent:

*David Phippen has been keeping us up to date on the U.S. Department of Labor's Persuader Rule and what that will mean for employers. On Wednesday, a federal judge in Minnesota refused to preliminarily block enforcement of the rule. There are two other challenges ...

As most of you have heard by now, the U.S. Department of Labor has provided a "sneak preview" of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the definition of "spouse" in the Family and Medical Leave Act. The proposed changes would broaden the definition of "spouse" to include most same-sex married couples.

The proposed changes are intended to reflect (and expand upon) last year's Supreme Court ...

If Joe tells co-worker Mary a dirty joke, Joe is probably in violation of the employer's no-harassment policy, right? And he risks being disciplined, or even fired, right?

Right.

But if Mary sues Joe for sexual harassment based on this one joke, her lawsuit will in all likelihood be thrown out of court, right?

Right.

That's because you can't sue over just any old thing, even if it's annoying ...

Do you believe Chris Christie?

I thought the Governor did pretty well in his press conference yesterday, apologizing forthrightly for the George Washington Bridge debacle*, and taking decisive action against the allegedly guilty parties who had not already tendered their resignations.

*The Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, allegedly conspired with New Jersey ...

Watch out -- if you show your a** too much, you may not win your retaliatory discharge case.

A federal judge in New Jersey granted summary judgment to an employer in a Title VII retaliation case. Happens all the time. But this plaintiff -- we'll call him "Ryan," because that's his name -- was fired after he had signed an affidavit supporting a co-worker's discrimination claim against the ...