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Jason Shinn of the Michigan Employment Law Advisor had a great post entitled "Is your company making this mistake when it comes to employees and intellectual property?" The post centers on a lawsuit filed by an employee of Marvel Entertainment who claimed he created the Ghost Rider character back in the 1970s. With the recent success…

Washington employment lawyer Donald Heyrich details some recent huge verdicts against employers.  The verdicts in his report range all the way up to a whopping $47 million.

Looking to avoid big verdicts?  I say treat employees with RESPECT and keep in mind the Golden Rule of Employee Relations:  Fairness.  Unfortunately too many employers forget these…

Employers have an obligation to prevent sexual and other forms of harassment in the workplace.  Unfortunately some employers are under the mistaken belief that their sexual harassment policy adequately covers them.  Here are some common mistakes I have noticed while conducting employment compliance reviews:

  • The written policy against harassment doesn’t include an anti-retaliation provision for those employees who

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Nascar has been sued by a former technical inspector in the Nationwide series.  The African-American woman seeks at least $225 million in her claims for sexual harassment, racial and gender discrimination and wrongful termination.  In the lawsuit, she alleged she was referred to as "Nappy Headed Mo" and "Queen Sheba," by co-workers, was often told she…

This past January I posted on an Iowa immigration bill that targeted employers.  The bill sparked significant debate but was not passed.

Now in the wake of the raid at the AgriProcessors slaughterhouse and packing plant in Postville, Iowa, Iowa’s legislative leaders are renewing promises to target employers.

This time legislative leaders will…

Mark Toth of the Manpower Employment Law Blog has an interesting post on "hooking up at work" and whether love contracts are a good idea.  This is where co-workers sign a contract in order to protect the company and the employees involved against sexual harassment or other discrimination charges.  Mark says he doesn’t think the agreements are necessarily a…

In last week’s Tip of Week (yes, I am a little behind), John Phillips of the Word on Employment Law raises the interesting perspective that it is possible to overdocument in employment cases.

Some of John’s warnings on overdocumentation include:

  • Documentation on trivial matters.
  • Creating a paper trail right before an employee is terminated.
  • Documenting

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Today I will present at the Central Iowa SHRM monthly meeting located at Copper Creek Golf Course on electronic workplace issues. The electronic workplace is all around us. Computers, voice mail, internet, intranet, e-mail, fax machines, laptops, PDAs, videoconferencing, social media, blogs and more are common features in the American workplace. The development of the…