The sexual harassment case of Alexandra Marchuk v. Faruqi & Faruqi went to the jury late yesterday afternoon. For previous coverage of the trial, go here, here, here, here, here, and here.

In closing arguments, the attorney for the defendants called Ms. Marchuk a "wolf" and said she had made up her allegations to get money. Among other things, he noted ...

As expected, Law360 reports this morning that Plaintiff Alexandra Marchuk has asked Judge Alvin Hellerstein to reconsider his ruling that Nadeem Faruqi and Lubna Faruqi, co-founders of the New York law firm Faruqi & Faruqi, be dismissed from her lawsuit as individual defendants. She also requested reconsideration of the court's decision granting judgment to the defendants on her ...

The defense completed its case yesterday at the trial of Alexandra Marchuk's sexual harassment claims against the New York City law firm of Faruqi & Faruqi and partner Juan Monteverde. Prior coverage of the trial is available here, here, here, and here.

Yesterday, Mr. Monteverde testified more about the blood-stained carpet, saying he had not noticed the stains until Ms. Marchuk told ...

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 ...

As our firm's Marketing Department likes to say, "Think before you tweet." A staffer at MSNBC was fired yesterday because of a tweet that started a political firestorm.

The story involves Cheerios, biracial families, the Republican National Committee and MSNBC. (Sounds like the start of a joke . . .)

Last May, there was a really cute Cheerios commercial involving a biracial family.

(I ...

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 ...

UPDATE: On Friday, January 24, 2014, the jury came back with a verdict for Courtney Love, finding that she is not liable for her tweet about Attorney Rhonda Holmes.

Can you be liable for libel based on what you tweet on Twitter?

Well, why the heck not?

You may have read that Courtney Love, widow of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, vocalist/guitarist/lyricist of Hole, and Mrs. Larry Flynt in The People ...

Do you believe Chris Christie?

I thought the Governor did pretty well in his press conference yesterday, apologizing forthrightly for the George Washington Bridge debacle*, and taking decisive action against the allegedly guilty parties who had not already tendered their resignations.

*The Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, allegedly conspired with New Jersey ...

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 ...

"Love means having to say you're sorry." Wait a minute. Is that a typo? 

No. Erich Segal, I beg to differ. As anyone who has a life knows, love means having to say you're sorry a lot. And that goes for employers, too. The company apology is a fine thing, as long as it is sincere, not a "non-apology apology," and accompanied by what they call a "firm purpose of amendment."

If you don't apologize when ...