In tough economic times, harassment training tends to be viewed as a luxury that can be gone without until things get better.

I understand this thinking, but harassment training on a regular basis is never a "luxury." It's a "cost of doing business." That is the reality. Here are five reasons why:

"Don't be 'cheep' about your harassment training. (tehe - get it?)"

*Turnover. If it's been ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued yesterday its draft Strategic Enforcement Plan. If you don't have time to slog through all the introductory material, you won't miss a thing if you skip right to Section III (Priorities). The agency proposes that its priorities will be

*Systemic discrimination cases involving recruitment and hiring. No big surprise there ...

Here are some steaming hot employment law news items for this sweltering mid-July:

EEOC does nothing to protect actor wrongfully terminated because of arrest record. (NOTE: I'm being tongue-in-cheek here.) You have probably heard by now about the arrest of actor Fred Willard for alleged "lewd conduct" in an adult movie theater. Willard denies behaving lewdly apart from being in ...

I was off enjoying the Florida sunshine last weekend while learning the latest techniques in pettifoggery and obfuscation (kidding!), but I hope I'll be making up for it today with a good case answering the musical question: "What does an employer do when it finds out that its employee on 'medical leave' is actually doing stuff?" You know, like working another job, or hanging out at the gun ...

Here's a strange little case for ya . . .

A loss prevention manager for a major retail store chain -- we'll call her "Loretta" -- had some performance issues in the past but was only five days away from the satisfactory completion of a performance improvement plan. She and a male loss prevention partner were called to investigate a sexual harassment complaint. During the investigation ...

Last week, my post was about retaliation, and how employers can be liable and how they can defend themselves. As luck would have it, two recent court decisions illustrate beyond my wildest imagination how important this issue can be.

Five years between protected activity and adverse action? No problem! I said last week that most courts find that a six-month or more time lapse between the ...

It's been another zany week or so in the world of labor and employment law, rivalling Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo. Here are a few items that jumped out at me. (Each subhead is a line from a Marx Brothers movie or the title of a Marx Brothers movie. Answers at the end.)

"Hurry up, or you'll be late for jail!" Pepsi Beverages (formerly Pepsi Bottling Co.) agreed to a pre-litigation settlement ...

After a great holiday feast, isn't it fun just to eat the leftovers? Like a nice, cold roast beast sandwich with a wedge of leftover pie? Yum!

Here are some great labor and employment blog "leftovers" from the holidays that I hope you will enjoy as much as I did, followed by a few new year's resolutions for employers and employees. Please add to my list!

In case you were chillaxin' last week and ...

What a year, am I right or am I right? Here is a catalog of the major employment and labor law developments from 2011. And, just to keep it entertaining, I've started off each month with a weird but true off-topic story that was in the news that month. Many thanks to Drudge Report archives for the strange stuff. Thanks also to Esquire magazine's annual Dubious Achievement Awards (sadly ...

It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.

In any event, that must be what the American Medical Association is thinking. The organization took it on the chin this week in a case involving the Family and Medical Leave Act.

The case is well worth a post-mortem because of what it teaches employers about "causation" in retaliation and protected concerted ...