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 ...

This week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a proposed Enforcement Guidance on workplace harassment. It's 75 pages long, so a little too much to cover in a single blog post. The EEOC is seeking comments from the public until February 9, so I will start with the comment-worthy provisions. Next week, I'll post about the proposed Guidance more generally. Overall, the ...

"The boss is a jerk. I dread coming to work every day. I'm treated unfairly. Everyone else gets better treatment than I do. My pay stinks, and my company's paid-time-off policy leaves much to be desired. I should sue!"

The Daily Mail had an article this week about "the moment [employees] started hating their jobs," based on a Reddit discussion thread entitled "What work ...

"An apple a day keeps the doctor lawyer away." Here are five easy and inexpensive things that employers can do to minimize their risk of being sued and maximize their chances of victory if they do get sued. None of these involve major expense, or even the use of lawyers.

1. Err on the side of treating your workers as (a) non-exempt and (b) "employees." Let this be your default ...

How much do you really know about sexual relationships in the workplace? Take my quiz, and find out!

Bert gives Ernie all the cushy jobs because they're having a consensual affair. Can Ernie's co-workers sue for sex harassment or discrimination?

NO, because Bert and Ernie are both men.

YES, because Bert's favoritism creates a hostile work environment.

NO, because the relationship is ...

It's a well-known fact that good-looking people have a better chance of being hired and promoted, and make more money, than less good-looking people. At least, as long as you're not too hot. Generally, there isn't much you can do about it if your opportunities are limited by male pattern baldness, that extra 25 pounds you've been meaning to lose, your acne scars from high school, or your ...

"Ai, ai . . . ai, ai . . . have you ever danced in the tropics,

In that lazy, hazy, like

Kind of crazy, like

South American way?

"Ai, ai . . . ai, ai . . . have you ever kissed in the moonlight,

in the grand and glorious,

gay notorious*

South American way?"

*Those really are the words to the song.

Down South America Way, © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., EMI Music Publishing.

Oh, those wild and crazy ...

A cornucopia of random employment law issues for your long weekend.

Lessons for employers from the Natalie Wood investigation. (OK, I admit this is a shameless tie-in designed to get you to read a legal blog over a holiday weekend.) But the reopening of the Natalie Wood drowning investigation after 30 years does contain a good lesson for employers -- to wit, that no matter how much time has ...