Back for 2020!

And ready to answer all of your workplace romance questions.

Workplace romance in the #MeToo era is so complicated.

This time of year, I am a total bleeding heart.

Unlike most of my fellow employment law bloggers, I love Valentine's Day, and I don't have much of a problem with consensual workplace relationships between unmarried people. People spend most of their lives at work, and so I can see how they might (1) have limited relationship options outside the workplace, and (2) easily develop an ...

Happy Valentine's Day! (almost)

Psychology Today had a great article by social psychologist and professor Theresa DiDonato about nine questions one should ask oneself before starting a workplace romance. Of course, the article was written primarily from a psychological point of view, but I think the same questions work from a legal standpoint. Here are Professor DiDonato's ...

This is the final installment of my analysis of the EEOC's recently issued proposed Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues. Here are Part One ("You gotta be protected!") and Part Two ("Was your employment action 'adverse'?").

For an employee to have a valid retaliation claim, it's not enough that she engaged in legally protected activity or that the employer took ...

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 ...

We're having a PRESIDENT'S DAY SALE on people who share too much on the Internet! We are overstocked!

Everything must go, go, go!

"By George! I do not need to know every minute detail of thy life, people! I have a country to father!"

"TMFI"* is not only incredibly annoying, but it's also putting people's jobs in jeopardy.

*Too Much Flippin' Information.

Before I continue, please know that I ...

Ah, February! The month of love! Of course, if you're a lawyer, you see the worst of humanity and never get to hear about true, faithful, honorable, self-sacrificial love -- sexual harassment is as close to "love" as we ever get. (See, you thought lawyers were just jerks - now you feel sorry for us!)

So, in honor of St. Valentine's Day, this is the best I can do. Here are two recent sexual ...