Today marks the Blog’s last original post of 2011 (if you count a weekly summary as original content). Next week, I will run the 4th annual year-end countdown. In past years, I’ve counted down the top 10 labor and employment stories of that year. This year, I’ll be doing it a little differently. I’ll be recapping what I consider to be the best posts of 2011. Inevitably, we’ll hit some of the year’s biggest stories (social media, Wal-Mart v. Dukes, the EEOC, the ADA) too. What you’ll read, however, are the 10 pots of which I am the most proud from the past year, which will include some (but not all) of the year’s most newsworthy and important stories.
Everyone have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, celebratory something else, and a safe New Year. I’ll be back on Tuesday, January 3, with brand new content for 2012.
In the meantime, if you want to give me an early Christmas present, cast your vote for the ABA Journal’s Blawg 100 (here to register, and here to vote). Thanks for your support.
Here’s what I read this week:
Discrimination
- Nothing good comes of forcing employees to go to brothels – from Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
- A GINA tip – from Warren & Hays Employment Law Blog
- Tempest in a flu shot: sex discrimination and religious preference – from John Holmquist’s Michigan Employment Law Connection
- Court Rules Severe Obesity Is a Disability Under the ADA – from Trade Secret / Noncompete Blog
- EEOC Performance in 2011, What it Could Mean for Employers in 2012 – from Employer Defense Law Blog
Social Media & Workplace Technology
- How to use Facebook Timeline – from The Verge
- Social Media E-Discovery: a New World of Proof – from i-Sight Investigation Software Blog
- Social Media: When Sociology and Technology Collide – from Blogging4Jobs
- Social-Media Woes for School Districts – from Molly DiBianca’s Delaware Employment Law Blog
- Facebook Discovery Odds Dropping in Pennsylvania – from Phil Miles’s Lawffice Space
- Another TSA Officer Leaves Personalized Note In Passenger’s Bag (After Finding Marijuana) – from Kashmir Hill’s The Not-So Private Parts
- Tis the Season to Tech the Workplace Halls - Managing Employee Owned Technology Devices – from Jason Shinn’s Michigan Employment Law Advisor
- Smartphones Stressing Employees Out, Employers Encouraging Smartphones – from Workplace Diva
HR & Employee Relations
- Don’t let that employee probationary period lull you into a false sense of security – from Robin Shea’s Employment and Labor Insider
- How to handle office party embarrassments – from Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
- Don’t Assume an Employee Knows the Rules – from Mike Haberman’s Omega HR Solutions
- Millennials don’t want 9 to 5 – from Gruntled Employees
- Summing Up 2011: Everything is Amazing and Nobody is Happy – from TLNT
- Right On, Jeb – from The ChamberPost
- Who Owns Your Customer Relationships: Your Salespeople or Your Company? – from Harvard Business Review
Wage & Hour
- The Danger In Docking The Pay of Exempt Employees – from Wage & Hour - Development & Highlights
- Minimum Wage, Overtime Requirements Extended to In-Home Care Workers in DOL Proposed Rule – from Wage & Hour Counsel
- Seventh Circuit Finds Employee’s “Work"”Not Compensable Due To Lack Of Employer Knowledge – from Wage and Hour Law Update
- Podcast: How Do Employers Calculate FMLA Leave Around the Holidays? – from FMLA Insights
Labor Relations
- ALJ Again Rules in Favor of Hospital in Closely Watched Flu Shot Case – from Labor Relations Counsel
- Obama NLRB Appointees Could Run Into Congressional Buzzsaw – from Joe’s HR and Benefits Blog
- Department of Interior at Odds With National Labor Relations Board Over NLRA Application to Indian Tribes – from Seth Borden’s Labor Relations Today