Thanks to all who submitted suggestions.  We got lots of highly creative (and occasionally disturbing) ideas.  I did my best to weave ‘em all into the action.

Now’s your chance to make literary history.  If you have any ideas about what should happen next in our story, either leave a comment below or shoot me an e-mail at blawg@manpower.com.

Happy reading!

Click here to read the mind-numbing regulations and to see the beautiful new form.  The official form will be posted on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) web site on or before February 2.

According to USCIS, “[t]he biggest difference in the revised Form I-9 is that all documents presented during the verification process must be unexpired.”  The new I-9 also reduces the number of acceptable documents.  “An expansive document list makes it more difficult for employers to verify valid and acceptable forms and single out false documents compromising the effectiveness and security of the Form I-9 process,” said a USCIS representative.

The new form eliminates three documents from List A (the temporary resident card and older versions of the employment authorization card).  It adds to List A the new U.S. Passport Card, certain foreign passports containing “machine-readable immigrant visas” and passports for certain citizens of the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.  It also includes changes to the employee attestation section.

The USCIS’ I-9 handbook will be update to reflect the new form and will be available on the USCIS web site soon.

Employers who fail to use the new form could be subject to monetary penalties.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Mark

What is the best holiday movie of all time?

The votes are in.  And the winner is . . . 

A Christmas Story, with 30% of the votes.  The first runner-up was It’s a Wonderful Life (25%), followed by Miracle on 34th Street (14%).

Here are the complete results:

1.  A Christmas Story (30%)
2.  It’s a Wonderful Life (25%)
3.  Miracle On 34th Street (14%)
4.  (Tie) A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (7%)
6.  National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (5%)
7.  The Santa Clause (4%)
8.  (Tie) Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Elf, White Christmas (3%)
11. (Tie) Frosty the Snowman, Bad Santa, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1%)

Given the potentially hazardous activities depicted in our winner, I feel compelled to make the following recommendations:

• Exercise extreme caution when handling firearms over the holidays so as not to “shoot your eye out.”
• Avoid placing your tongue on metal objects while outdoors.
• Refrain from bringing scantily clad leg-shaped lamps into the workplace to reduce potential claims of harassment and/or bad taste.

HAVE A JOYFUL AND PEACEFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!

• Apparently, Reverend Al Sharpton plans to mobilize the African-American community against EFCA.  Click here for more.
• Today’s Wall Street Journal published an interesting opinon piece asserting that EFCA is ”unconstitutional.”  Click here. 
• On the other hand, President-elect Obama’s selection for Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, is a strong supporter of EFCA and her choice reportedly “thrilled” organized labor.  Click here.

Most “experts” believe that EFCA will not make the Obama Administration’s 100-day list of key priorities (and/or that the anti-secret-ballot piece will be dropped).  But that result is far from certain.

Stay tuned.

So, please promote peace on earth by voting in our latest poll to help resolve this divisive issue once and for all.  If you’d like to add a write-in candidate, either leave a comment below or shoot me an e-mail at blawg@manpower.com.

Thank you.

We wanted to see what our loyal Blawg visitors are experiencing.  Given that the recession officially started a year ago, we asked:

Are you seeing an increase in employment law claims?

Here are your responses:

Yes:  47%
No:   53%

In other words, y’all are doing waaaaay better in this regard than most U.S. companies.  Obviously, this is a direct result of the fact that you’re paying attention to the Blawg.

Click here, here and here for more on this topic.

As always, thanks for your participation!

A recent Right Management study answers that question and more.  Right Management is a subsidiary of Manpower and the world’s leading provider of integrated human capital consulting services and solutions across the employment lifecycle.

According to the study, U.S. employees receive the least amount of severance in the world, with many countries paying more than twice as much on average for certain positions.  Below are the mean weeks of severance paid in the U.S. per year of service:

Voluntarily Separated
Top Executives:  2.76
Senior Executives:  2.23
Department Heads/Managers:  1.55
Professional/Technical:  1.39
All others:  1.23

Involuntarily Separated
Top Executives:  3.04
Senior Executives:  2.49
Department Heads/Managers:  1.78
Professional/Technical:  1.60
All others:  1.44

Never, ever, never pay severance unless an employee signs a release.  According to the study, most U.S. companies (96%) follow that practice.

According to Right Management President Doug Matthews:  “Severance can be used as a strategic tool to differentiate an organization in the tough war for talent and should be directly aligned with a company’s business strategy and brand value.  Severance benefits should be consistent with the values and culture an organization espouses.”

To help enhance your viewing experience, each week I provide a critique of the action from an employment lawyer’s perspective.  Here’s this week’s review . . .

Episode Title:  ”Moroccan Christmas”

The Plot:  The office holiday party goes up in flames.

My Analysis:

1. Issue:  Failure to Read the Blawg
   Description:  Clearly, management didn’t read our patented Top 5 Holiday Party Tips.  Had it done so, it would have avoided many of the legal disasters discussed below.
   Risk:  $$$$$
2. Issue:  Alcohol in the Workplace
   Description:  Alcohol and work typically aren’t a great combination, especially when the boss is pouring the drinks (and especially especially when the boss is Michael Scott).  Michael served Meredith a “one-of-everything” drink consisting of “equal parts scotch, absinthe, rum, gin, vermouth, triple sec and two packs of Splenda.”  The result?  Meredith got very drunk and set herself on fire.  The company’s “employee Christmas gift” — a Dunder Mifflin shot glass — also wasn’t a great idea.
   Risk:  $$$$$
3. Issue:  Drugs in the Workplace; Violation of Anti-smoking Policy
   Description:  Creed was allowed to openly smoke a hookah in the middle of the party.  Based on Creed’s past comments/conduct, there’s a decent chance it contained something other than tobacco.  Even if it was tobacco, Creed violated the company’s anti-smoking policy.
   Risk:  $$$ 
4. Issue:  Running a Doll Ring on Company Time
   Description:  Dwight cornered the market on the season’s hottest toy — a unicorn princess doll (basically, a Barbie with a horn stuck in the middle of her forehead).  Dwight made thousands of dollars peddling the toys to desperate parents on company time.  (Sidenote:  Was it just me or did one of Dwight’s “customers” appear to be disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich?)
   Risk:  $$$$
5. Issue:  Assault; Defamation; Emotional Distress; False Imprisonment; Disability Discrimination
   Description:  Against HR’s advice, Michael conducted an “intervention” (defined by Michael as a “surprise party for people who have addictions”) to confront Meredith about her suspected alcoholism.  He referred to her as an alcoholic multiple times in front of other employees, tried to berate her into admitting her problem and then drove her under false pretenses to a rehab center.  When she refused to enter, he dragged her in kicking and screaming (literally).
6. Issue:  Blackmail; Emotional Distress
   Description:  Phyllis spent most of the episode blackmailing Angela.  Angela complied out of fear that Phyllis would reveal Angela’s affair with Dwight.  Phyllis eventually announced it to everyone.  Being romantically linked with Dwight is enough to cause anyone severe and perhaps irreparable emotional distress.
   Risk:  $$$
7. Issue:  Harassment
   Description:  As always, basically everyone harassed everyone else.  This week, the employees branched out from mere sexual harassment to many other forms, including religious, racial and national origin harassment.
   Risk:  $$$$$
8. Issue:  Workplace Violence
   Description:  This week’s violence level was notably lower than prior weeks.  Michael threw a pen at Toby’s head.  Dwight threatened to harm Meredith if she ever died and came into work as a zombie.  Jim pulled a prank on Dwight that could have resulted in injury.
   Risk:  $$
9. Issue:  Criminally Bad Music
   Description:  Andy played lots of bad music on a sitar rented for the party, including the world’s worst rendition of Deck the Halls.  Being exposed to his singing could easily result in emotional distress claims.
   Risk:  $

As always, anyone who spots an employment law issue I missed will be entitled to a valuable prize.  If you think I missed something, either leave a comment below or shoot me an e-mail at blawg@manpower.com. 

If you didn’t get a chance to see the episode, you can view it on NBC’s official web site here.

• Party on.  64% of employers will throw a holiday bash this year (down only slightly from last year’s record of 67%), with more employers than ever before (92%) picking up the entire tab.
• More booze?  Not sure what this says about the mental state of corporate America, but more employers plan to serve alcohol this year — 65% compared to last year’s 59%.
• More safeguards?  Of the employers serving alcohol, 75% monitor consumption, 58% limit serving times, 46% provide taxis, 32% offer discount hotel rates to encourage overnight stays and 12% arrange for designated drivers.
• No spouses.  Fewer employers allow non-employees to attend the festivities.  Only 55% will allow spouses or other guests, continuing a decline from 2004’s high of 63%.
• Less charity.  Only 61% of employers will participate in charitable activities this year, up 3% from last year but down considerably from prior years when more than 70% of employers participated.  The most frequent activities include gifts to needy children (41%) and food drives (39%).
• Scrooge-ish gifts and bonuses.  Only 40% of employers will give gifts or bonuses this year, down from 44% last year and 49% the previous year.
• What if Santa brings gifts from vendors?  18% prohibit outside gifts entirely, while 51% allow gifts of nominal value and 14% set limits on value (typically somewhere between $25 and $100).  15% have no outside gift policy.

For all the results, click here.