EMPLOYMENT LAW BLOG CARNIVAL: April Fools' Edition

(St. Patrick's Day is sooooo nine hours ago!)

Ever looking to the future, we celebrate the coming April Fools' Day with this month's greatest employment law Apr.Fool.ELBC.Foolblog posts. Some of my summaries are accurate, and others are "fools' editions" - you'll have to read the actual posts to know which is which. There are so many excellent posts that I'm listing them in alphabetical order by blogger's last name. Enjoy!

Donna Ballman of Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home says that we wouldn't have so many people in jail if prisons were required to pay the minimum wage for inmate labor. Check out "Is Incarceration the New Slavery? Does Cheap Labor Explain the U.S.'s High Incarceration Rates?"

Heather Bussing of HR Examiner asks, "Is There Recovery After Workplace Drama?" No, Heather answers. Heather recommends that employers adopt and communicate to employees a strong, clearly worded no-histrionics policy prohibiting thespianism during working time and in working areas. Violations should result in disciplinary action, up to and including discharge. Which means no more reenactments of this scene in the break room:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zFg2qByF4E

Bob Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick on Employment Law discusses the a recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in "Sweeping ADA Ruling by Fourth Circuit Should Make Employers Nervous." In Jacobs v. N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts - a case involving discrimination, reasonable accommodation, and retaliation under the Americans with Disabilities Act -- the North Carolina court system gets taken to the woodshed.

Janette Levey Frisch of The Employment LAWyerologist asks "Wait! Stop! Is your severance arrangement subject to ERISA?" If so, and if an employer doesn't comply with the requirements, there can be some scary penalties.

Apr.Fool.ELBC.XraySpecs
"Hey, these things really work!"

John Holmquist of Michigan Employment Law Connection says employers in Michigan needn't get all hot and bothered about the transgender issue. Just because the EEOC has sued a funeral home in the Detroit area for discriminating against a transgender employee and a Planet Fitness in Midland expelled a member who complained that a transgender person was using the women's locker room . . . so what? And employers in other states can rest easy, too - it's all just a tempest in a teapot, John says.

Jon Hyman of the Ohio Employer's Law Blog asks, "Do You Know What to Do When OSHA Comes Knocking?" And when you find out, will you tell Jon so that he'll know, too?

Apr.Fool.ELBC.Bush Love Letters to Condi
Dubya + Condi = 4ever

Joseph Leonoro of Employment Essentials asks "When Are Meal Periods Compensable?" 'Cause he's really hungry, but he wants to be sure he gets paid while he's running out for a Big Mac.

Eric Meyer of The Employer Handbook and our Blog Carnival Founding Father, talks about "Transgender employees and the so-called bathroom conundrum." Eric says employers should either have unisex restrooms or let folks use the bathroom that goes with the gender with which they identify. Then he makes a scatological pun, but at least he uses asterisks.

Apr.Fool.ELBC.Wrestlers
"It's real, I tell you - real!"

Philip Miles of Lawffice Space has a post about "The Supreme Court and the Men Who Lactate." Nursing dads in the workplace: one of the burning issues of our time.

Mitch Quick of HR Genius Bar discusses "Employees Behaving Badly - the Social Media Edition," and he includes some good, practical, common-sense advice for employers and employees. Therefore, #NLRBh8sit.

Ari Rosenstein of CPEhr's Small Biz HR Blog discusses the new definition of "spouse" in the Family and Medical Leave Act. Don't forget that these new definitions will take effect a week from Friday, on March 27.

Apr.Fool.ELBC.Burt Reynolds
Yes, the correct spelling is "separtared."

Stuart Rudner has a video on "Love in the Workplace" with his law partner, Natalie McDonald. Stuart and Natalie say that all employees should be required to say "I love you" to each other on a daily basis or be fired.

Lorene Schaefer of Win-Win HR asks, "Is the C-Suite Ready for Trial Tweeting?" as part of her comprehensive coverage of the Pao v. Kleiner Perkins sexual harassment and retaliation trial going on in San Francisco. Are executives ready to respond in real time to social media coverage? (Doubt it.)

Apr.Fool.ELBC.Monopoly Money
If Kleiner Perkins loses, this is how they intend to pay Ms. Pao. What?

And finally, you can test your knowledge about retaliation at my Employment & Labor Insider blog, with "What's your retaliation IQ?" Speaking of which, did you know that a complaint about being spanked on the bottom at work is legally protected activity? The EEOC says it is.

That's it - thanks very much to all of our outstanding bloggers, and especially to Heather Bussing, John Holmquist, Jon Hyman, Joseph Leonoro, and Stuart Rudner for letting me make April Fools' jokes out of their truly excellent blog posts. (Be sure to read the real things, and not just my blurbs.)

And thanks, as always, to Eric Meyer, without whom our monthly Employment Law Blog Carnival would not exist.

Our host with the most in April will be Ari Rosenstein of CPEhr's Small Biz HR Blog. April Fools! (No, just kidding. It really will be Ari.) See you then and there!

Image credits: Still images from flickr, Creative Commons license. Fool by Jo Jakeman; X-ray specs kitty by Russell Bernice; tabloid newsstand by F Delventhal; wrestlers by Stig Andersen; "Separtared [sic] at Scalpel" by The Lex Talionis; Monopoly money by John Morgan. YouTube video is clip is of James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause (1956). 

Tags: Americans with Disabilities Act, April Fool's Day, Ari Rosenstein, Benjamin Franklin, Billy Madison, Bob Fitzpatrick, Burt Reynolds, Chris Correa, Christmas, Condoleezza Rice, Cookouts, CPEhr, Cynophobia, Defamation, Detroit Industry, Detroit Institute of Arts, Discipline, Donna Ballman, Drew Carey, EEOC, EEOC v. Regional Center for Border Health, EEOC v. United Health Programs of America, ELBC, Eleanor Roosevelt, Employment & Labor Insider, Employment Essentials, Employment Law Blog Carnival, Eric Lyle Williams, Eric Meyer, ERISA, Expert Witnesses, Family and Medical Leave Act, Fitzpatrick on Employment Law, Fletcher Henderson, Gender Identity, George W. Bush, Georgia, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Golden Rule, Gone Fishin', Gov. Scott Walker, Handcuffs, Heather Bussing, HR Examiner, HR Genius Bar, I Feel Good, I Want You Back, Illinois, Jacobs v. N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, James Brown, James Dean, Janette Levey Frisch, John Holmquist, Jon Hyman, Joseph Leonoro, King Oliver, Kitties, Labor Day, Lactation Accommodation, Lawffice Space, Lincoln Memorial, Liza Favaro, Lorene Schaefer, Los Angeles Office, Louis Armstrong, Love Story, Lucky Cat, Manhattan Beer Distributors, Manufacturing, Maple Leaf Rag, Marian Anderson, Mean to Me, Michael Jackson, Michigan Employment Law Connection, Millennials, Minimum Wage, Mitch Quick, Monopoly, My Country 'Tis of Thee, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB, Ohio Employer's Law Blog, Onionhead, OSHA, Pao v. Kleiner Perkins, Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Patricia Smith, PBS, Penny Wise Pound Foolish, Philip Miles, Planet Fitness, Policies, Prison Labor, Ray Charles, Rebel Without A Cause, Retaliation, Rob Portman, Robin Shea, Rudyard Kipling, Scarface, Scott Joplin, SCOTUS, Screw You Guys I'm Going Home, Severance, Small Biz HR Blog, SmithKline Beecham, Social Media, Spokeo v. Robins, Strange Fruit, Stuart Rudner, Summary Judgment, Supreme Court, Tabloids, Tenth Circuit, Text Message Manipulation, The Employer Handbook, The Employment LAWyerologist, The Sting, Transgender, Two-Member Board, Unemployment, Vasquez v. Empress Ambulance, Virginia, Wage and Hour, Waitresses, West Fertilizer Company, Williams v. Blue Cross Blue Shield, Win-Win HR, Workplace Romance, Wrestling, X-ray Specs

Robin Shea has 30 years' experience in employment litigation, including Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (including the Amendments Act). 
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