A reader, who has asked to remain anonymous, suggested that I write about employees who make "stupid" complaints about discrimination, harassment, or other allegedly unlawful treatment.

The following is a fictionalized email, but it accurately presents the spirit of her concern.

Dear Robin,

I am a Human Resources director for a government employer. You won't believe this, but I ...

An article by Lauren Weber and Rachel Feintzeig in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal caught a lot of attention -- it was about companies that have made the decision to do without a Human Resources function.

The idea drew some positive response on Twitter:

HR stifles innovation and bogs down businesses with inefficient policies and processes. http://t.co/5cGRIwHaxR

— Mike Brice ...

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 ...

Here's a little Friday quiz for you -- no grading, and answers appear below -- on the subject of retaliation.

After you take the quiz, stay tuned for the story that inspired me to write about this.

RETALIATION QUIZ

1. Approximately how many labor and employment laws have anti-retaliation provisions?

A. All of them

B. Three - Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age ...

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 ...

                          If you ever plan to motor west,

Travel my way, take the highway that is best.

Get your kicks on Route 66.

It winds from Chicago to LA,

More than two thousand miles all the way,

Get your kicks on Route 66.*

OK, kiddies -- jump into my '55 T-bird, and let's take off on old Route 66, from Chicago to L.A., more than two thousand miles all the way! If you promise to behave, I'll let you ride with the top down.

Last week, I posted about the Supreme Court's decision in Vance v. Ball State, a nice win for employers. Here's another: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, in which the Court held that a plaintiff seeking to get to a jury on a retaliation claim has to meet an exacting standard of proof.

What the case was about

The plaintiff, Dr. Nassar, was a physician of Middle ...

NOTE TO READERS (7/18/15): Due to a technical issue with the comments, replies that I tried to make to a number of commenters did not "post." I apologize. I think we have everything fixed now, and I've gone back in this morning and replied to just about everybody unless the comment did not seek a response or I couldn't understand the comment. My responses are under the name "InsiderBlog ...

Employers, has this ever happened to you?

An employee in a critical-but-inflexible position -- say, a customer service representative -- asks for "intermittent" leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. If the intermittent time off is "scheduled," it's usually not too big a problem. Most employers can manage to work around a situation if they know what to expect. They may be able to ...

Happy new year, everybody! Although I've been on vacation, the news never sleeps, and the Mayans were wrong. Accordingly, I have a few items to catch you up on.

"Ha-ha! We were just kidding!"

UPDATE: Thanks to reader John Perkins, SPHR, for the 2013 Mayan Calendar. Most educational!

"Near occasion of sin" is a legitimate ground for termination, Iowa court says. You've probably already ...