This is not your usual summer, Gentle Reader.

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 ...

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 ...

Walter Olson of the great Overlawyered.com sent a challenge over Twitter earlier this week:

For those of you who don't know Mr. Olson, he's a libertarian.  :-)

I have to admit, I needed time to process this! I complain about these laws all the time, but would I really want to get rid of all protections for employees who want to organize, be paid a fair wage, avoid being thrown out on the street ...

Yikes. I hope I haven't missed anybody. Wild week!

We hope that the immigrant strikes are about over by now, but they may continue into today, and a women's strike is reportedly set for March 8. Do employers have any recourse when their employees go out on strike? It depends. If the strike is "protected concerted activity" (and it may be), then employers will need to tread carefully and ...

NOTE FROM ROBIN: A portion of Jill's remarks below appeared Tuesday morning in Law360 (paid subscription required).

Notwithstanding what might happen over the next four (or eight) years, there is no question that President Barack Obama has left his mark on labor and employment law in some very important ways. Even if President-Elect Trump’s administration and the ...

Labor Day marked the beginning of the "serious" election season. In 2012, I posted on dos and don'ts for employers, but many of my old recommendations aren't going to work in today's labor law climate. Here's an updated guide to help employers and their employees survive to November 8, and beyond, which I think will comply with the latest positions of the National Labor Relations ...

How many stars would you give Yelp as an employer? Read on!

I'm sure you've all heard by now about Talia Ben-Ora, the Yelp employee who was trying to live in the San Francisco area working as a minimum-wage customer support employee. She wrote an open letter to the CEO about how her pay did not cover her living expenses - and then she got fired.

Yelp denies that she was fired because of her ...

Thanks very much to David Phippen from our Metro D.C. Office for letting me get some depositions taken this week and allowing me to republish his analysis here.

As we have previously reported, the National Labor Relations Board in recent years has put employee handbooks and policy manuals under a magnifying glass, searching for any provision that might, in its view, violate the ...

It's been a while since we've had an employment law quiz, so let's do it! This one is on retaliation. As always, the answers will be provided after each question -- you have our "no-pressure" guarantee.

1. What is retaliation?

A. Getting even with somebody because he did something you don't like.

B. Denying somebody a reward (such as a pay raise) because he did something you don't ...