You may remember that I stirred up some contentiousness a few weeks ago when I suggested that employers should not challenge unemployment claims except in the worst cases. So I hate to bring it up again (not really -- I like debates in the comments!), but I received a very good question from an attorney reader a while ago, and he gave me permission to run his question here.

Ms. Shea,

I ...

Should an employee performance review be one big love letter?

Maybe so, according to Rachel Feintzeig, who wrote in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, "Everything Is Awesome! Why You Can't Tell Employees They're Doing a Bad Job." The idea is that many employers are getting away from providing constructive criticism in performance reviews and are "accentuating the positive."

My ...

As you may have seen, the jury in Marchuk v. Faruqi came back yesterday with a verdict for plaintiff Alexandra Marchuk, but it will not allow her to retire, nor will it even pay off her law school student loans.

Ms. Marchuk got a total of $140,000:

$70,000 in back pay

$20,000 in front pay

$5,000 in punitive damages against the law firm

and $45,000 in punitive damages against partner Juan ...

As an employer, what can you do to protect yourself when one employee claims severe sexual harassment and the other party denies it or claims it was all consensual?

The Marchuk v. Faruqi & Faruqi trial (daily updates here) is far from over, but that case, as well as one involving CRST Van Expedited in California, provide some valuable opportunities for us to learn from other employers ...

Guess what? You know those SEC disclosures about pending litigation that publicly held companies are required by law to make? Well, if an employer says too much, it may be "retaliating" against the litigants.

I am not making this up. International Monetary Systems, Ltd., is facing a jury trial on a retaliation claim made by a former employee. The company is going to trial because it listed ...

You're an employer who tries to do the right thing. But what hidden traps are out there, waiting to grab your ankle and yank you into a lawsuit? Here are a few that cause trouble for even the best employers:

Trap No. 5: Capturing all time worked for your non-exempt employees. We get so accustomed to exempt employees who answer emails at all hours and handle business while driving to and from ...

From a labor and employment law standpoint, I'm not sure we have a lot to be thankful for this year. But 'tis the season, so here are a paltry few:

Be thankful that your employer doesn't fire you while you're on the air. Ben Finfer, co-host of a Chicago sports talk radio show learned that he was losing his job through a tweet that came through while he was on the air last week. Mr. Finfer ...

This post is by Cara Crotty, co-chair of Constangy's Strategic Affirmative Action Practice Group.

Once again, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs will ruin the holidays for thousands of federal contractors. The OFCCP announced last week that it plans to issue Courtesy Scheduling Announcement Letters, or CSALs, to 2,500 federal contractor establishments.

CSALs ...

Last week, I wrote about the two situations in which an employer should ask an applicant about a disability or a religious belief or practice that might require reasonable accommodation. (As I emphasized last week, 99 percent of the time, you should stay away from these topics in job interviews.) My post prompted one reader to ask some follow-up questions that I think are worthy of another ...

Everybody knows that an employer should never, ever, ever ask an applicant about religion or disability until after a conditional offer of employment has been made. And maybe not even then. Right?

Right?

Well, mostly right. But, as a couple of EEOC lawsuits show, there may be times when you have to make an exception to this rule. (Otherwise, it would be too easy for employers to stay out of ...