I'm gonna say no.

This bustin' on HR is gettin' me down, You got to quit kickin' HR around.

A boss who grabs an employee's breasts without her consent is indeed guilty of sexual harassment.

Words fail me. Let’s just say that I hope he is sincere about getting the help he needs to turn his life around.

Which, among other things, should include trying to make some form of restitution to his allegedvictims. (None of this ridiculous “atonement by fighting the NRA.”)

There are more Weinstein stories than I can link to, but here are the two original sources: The article by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey in The New York Times is here, and Ronan Farrow’s excellent and very disturbing article in The New Yorker is here.

Mr. Weinstein, through a spokesperson, has denied engaging in any non-consensual sexual relations or retaliating against anyone who refused his advances. The full denial is in the video, below.

Here are my eight takes from an employment law and Human Resources perspective:

No. 1: “Quid pro quo” harassment is just a fancy word for extortion — where the prize is sex, instead of money or property. When an employer threatens to terminate (or otherwise punish) an employee for refusing sexual advances, or promises to hire (or otherwise reward) her for participating, then that is extortion. (I’m using “she” and “her” for convenience, but men can be victims, too.) In the ordinary employment context, an employer is strictly (automatically) liable if a supervisor or manager engages in this type of harassment.

On the recent uproar involving a major, major employer and its recently-terminated employee:

No. 1. Is it a good idea to provide an "open forum" to employees if there are certain topics that are off limits? No. If you want to provide a forum for employees to speak up, but only "within reason," then it's a good idea to establish and communicate your limits in advance. That way, if ...

What a week for aging. According to one study, people age 65 and older will outnumber people age 15 and younger worldwide by the year 2030. This is referred to as a "population plague."

In more bad news for younger older people, Lydia DePillis, writing for The Washington Post, had an article titled "Baby boomers are taking on ageism -- and losing." From what I could tell, her ...

A recent Q & A from the “Workologist” column in the New York Times caught my eye.

The correspondent was asking how to ensure that a résumé submitted online actually gets reviewed by the hiring company.  That is a legitimate concern – after all, organizations are inundated with job seekers when positions are posted, and recruiters can’t always physically review ...

Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce the official release of the U.S. Department of Labor's new overtime rule this afternoon in an appearance at Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream in Columbus, Ohio. I'll post the rule, which will change the white-collar overtime exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act, as soon as it's available. Meanwhile, the DOL has already released the ...

Here is a collection of tributes to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died just short of his 80th birthday on Saturday. For now, I'm not going to include political speculations. We send our prayers and condolences to Justice Scalia's family, friends, and loved ones.

By Adam Liptak from The New York Times, probably the most comprehensive news account of his life and work.

By Karen ...

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 ...