Last night, Fox debuted its new reality show, Does Someone Have To Go?, which Entertainment Weekly bills as Survivor meets The Office. Here’s the premise:
Needless to say, the New York Times is not impressed, unflatteringly calling the show “a victory” for companies and horrible for employees:
The squabbles are petty, ill-informed and sometimes personal, and seemingly dredge up unacknowledged tensions around race and age…. The stakes, as they are presented, are dramatic. For signing up to be on this show, employees … run the risk of conflict, humiliation and, possibly, unemployment. (Presumably, these workplaces are not unionized.)
As for me, I was glued to the TV, and will be through this show’s run. Yet, I couldn’t help but think about the scope of the release agreement these employees had to sign before appearing on the show.
Did you watch? Share your opinion in the comments below, or on Twitter with the hashtag #WorkplaceReality
Here’s the rest of what I read this week:
Discrimination
- Dear Evil Skippy: Was It Harassment For My Boss To Talk My Underwear? — from Evil Skippy at Work
- When an Employer Provides More Parental Leave to Mom than Dad, is this Gender Discrimination? — from FMLA Insights
- Sixth Circuit Upholds Summary Judgment for Employers in Two Cases Brought by Terminated Pregnant Employees — from Employer Law Report
- EEOC: no post-offer inquiries about family medical history — from Overlawyered
- Inquiring about Family Medical History Violates Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Law — from Maryland Employment Law Developments
- Pointers on avoiding Diabetes Discrimination — from Mike Haberman’s Omega HR Solutions
- Lawffice Links - New EEOC Publications Galore! — from Phil Miles’s Lawffice Space
- EEOC talks employer wellness programs; provides an ADA Q&A — from Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
- A sanctions award in EEOC v. Spitzer, the “don’t have your lawyer investigate” case — from Warren & Associates Blog
Social Media & Workplace Technology
- The Latest Social Media Concern for Employers — from WSJ.com
- Can an LLC member violate the Stored Communications Act by accessing other members’ email? — from Internet Cases
- Using Computer Forensics to Investigate IP Theft — from Law.com
- SMBs embrace BYOD, but slow to manage mobile devices — from ZDNet
- Act On Clarifying Ownership of Work-Related Social Media Accounts Before You Become “Dinner” — from Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog
- Sitting on Big Data: The Evolution of the Mobile Workplace — from Innovation Insights
HR & Employee Relations
- Do You Know the Seven Factors That Comprise “Just Cause”? — from Trade Secret / Noncompete Blog
- What About Office Romances? — from Evil HR Lady
- The Price Of Being Pregnant at Work — from HuffPost Live
- Debunking The 'No Friends At Work' Rule: Why Friend-Friendly Workplaces Are The Future — from Forbes
- Bullying bosses beware: Your targets may undermine you — from Minding the Workplace
Wage & Hour
- USDOL "Misclassification" Focus Continues — from Wage and Hour Laws Blog
- W.H.D.?: Here We Go Again … Independent Contractors Targeted Once More — from The Wage and Hour Litigation Blog
- 8th Cir: FLSA Plaintiffs Must Spell It Out — from Molly DiBianca’s Delaware Employment Law Blog
- Proposed Overtime Legislation Passes House, Faces Uphill Battle in Senate — from Impact Litigation Journal
- Wages, Salaries & Overtime – Oh My! 4 Myths About Employee Pay — from TLNT
Labor Relations
- NLRB takes aim at employer electronic communications and social policies — from EmployerLINC
- Senate Committee Approves President’s Nominations to the NLRB — from Wyatt Employment Law Report
- It’s a Little Too Little: Is The NLRB Headed Towards Irrelevance? — from Employment Essentials
Until next week:
(Bonus points if you know the link between the new wave hit My Sharona, by The Knack, and this post.)