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Tonight truly marked the beginning of the end for Michael Scott, as a new Scranton branch manager made his first appearance. Deangelo Vickers, played by Will Ferrell, started out with a Michael-esque quality of lovable dope, but it soon became apparent Deangelo Vickers is no Michael Scott. It became apparent when he asked Erin to change the […]
Litigation Value: A narrow escape from Michael burning the office down (twice) and, as always, plenty of lost productivity while the employees held a garage sale, played “Dallas” and helped Michael propose to Holly. Since last night’s “Office” was another rerun, I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about the “Garage Sale” episode. […]
By Hector A. Chichoni Because of tremendous advances in technology and transportation, companies are able to locate resources and skills in different parts of the world and manage them as if they were in one place. Competition for resources and skills is brutal and requires speedy and fluid access to global markets. When U.S. employers […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently heard testimony on the particular effects the economic downturn has had on older workers, addressing the unfortunate possibility that the recession may be serving as a catalyst for some employers to engage in age discrimination. Recession Hits Older Workers During a mid-November EEOC meeting, several experts reported on […]
In 2010, there was a 10 percent increase from 2009 in wage and hour collective- and class-action cases under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). “Collective” and “class” actions are lawsuits with multiple plaintiffs filed by employees who perform substantially the same job. The number of wage and hour cases began to climb as a […]
Last night, my television was playing a marathon of “Office” repeats, leaving us without new catastrophes to dissect. So in an attempt to find something to share with you folks, I contacted my mole in Sabre’s corporate human resources department to see what’s new down in Tallahassee. As it turns out, I have a special treat for […]
Litigation value: $8.99 + tip for Michael’s “free” lunch, although Michael’s tort action for false imprisonment against Mr. Chu and the Chinese restaurant will more than cover it. From an employment liability perspective, it is probably a good thing for Dunder Mifflin/Sabre that Michael’s character is leaving the show soon. One suspects that his soon-to-be-rekindled relationship with […]
December 17, 2010 Determining whether an employer has 50 employees for purposes of the FMLA can be complex. As you are aware, under the FMLA regulations, an employer covered by FMLA is any person engaged in commerce or in any industry or activity affecting commerce, who employs 50 or more employees for each working day […]
This week was another repeat of “Niagara,” the hour-long Pam and Jim wedding episode. Doug Hall and Matt Scott did a nice job with this episode here and here offering different takes on employee behavior outside the office. But seriously, does an employer really have to be concerned about what happens at an employee’s wedding? Yup. The […]
By David McDonald Most Canadian employers are familiar with what they can and can’t do when they’re the target of a union-organizing campaign. Labor legislation across Canada prohibits management from terminating or disciplining employees because of trade union affiliation while a union is attempting to gain representational rights. A recent decision from British Columbia, Playtime […]