In honor of Valentine’s Day, we conducted a poll to get your thoughts on the hot topic of love contracts.

What’s a Love Contract?  To protect itself from liability, an employer requires romantically intertwined employees to sign an agreement stating that (1) the relationship is 100% welcome, voluntary and consensual and (2) they will fully comply with the employer’s anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, including immediately reporting any and all harassment, avoiding nepotism/favoritism and working in a professional manner at all times.

The Vote.  Illustrating the divided opinions on this topic, the vote was a perfect 50-50 split, with half of you saying that love contracts are a good idea and half saying they ain’t.

Your Comments.  Several prominent attorneys weighed in on the subject . . .

Eric Welter called love contracts “a sign of a confused and overlawyered society.”  

Jon Hyman said:  “If the company is not going to prohibit intra-office romances per se, than anything that would be covered by a “Love Contract” should be already covered by a company’s anti-harassment policy. It seems like overkill to have employees sign off on such a document when they are already bound by the harassment policy.”

Joel Spitz added:  “While there may be some upside to love contracts, there’s also a distinct downside because, assuming that the company has in place an appropriate anti-harassment policy, all employees should already be bound by that policy.  If the company doesn’t consistently have all employees who are romantically involved sign a love contract it could undercut the effectiveness of the anti-harassment policy.”

The rather interestingly named HR Wench voiced her agreement with the above.

My Thoughts.  Echoing those comments, it seems to me that love contracts basically force the HR Department to act as the love police.  Effective and consistently enforced anti-harassment policies should already address most of the concerns. 

One can easily imagine the following conversation taking place in a company that adopts a love contract policy:

HR:  Hello, Greg.

Greg:  Hello.

HR:  I heard you’re dating Marcia.  Is that true?

Greg:  No, actually I’m dating Alice.

HR:  Oh, really?  I thought Sam was dating Alice.

Greg:  No, he’s dating Carol now.

HR:  Hmm.  I thought Carol and Mike were married.

Greg:  Did you hear that Bobby’s dating Cindy?  And that Jan’s dating Peter?

HR:  I quit.  (Hands him a stack of love contracts).  Congratulations — you’re our new Head of HR.  Get everyone to sign one of these.

The people have spoken.

Our latest poll asked whether our readers feel that the Americans with Disabilities Act needs “restoration.”

A little background . . .

Congress is currently considering the Americans with Disabilities Restoration Act (ADRA), a bill that would revise the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Among other things, the ADRA would:

• shift the burden of proving that an employee is a “qualified individual with a disability” from the employee to the employer;
• remove the “substantially limits a major life activity” requirement from the definition of “disability”; and
• prohibit employers from taking ”corrective measures” (e.g., contact lenses, medication, etc.) into account in determining whether an employee has a disability.

Proponents of the bill contend that courts have undercut the intent of the ADA by construing the definition of “disability” far too narrowly and by expanding the ability of employers to take certain corrective measures into consideration.

Opponents argue that removing the “substantially limits” and “corrective measures” concepts from the equation would spur increased litigation and potentially expand protection to conditions that aren’t truly disabling.

The Results

The question we asked was simple:  Does the ADA need restoration? 

Here’s how you voted:  a whopping 71% said ”yes”; only 29% said ”no.”

What’s Next?

We at Manpower feel strongly that ensuring workforce diversity of all types isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s an absolute economic imperative in the changing world of work.  Employers must find ways to attract and retain talented employees from all walks of life, including disabled individuals.

Our poll results indicate that there is broad interest in modifying the ADA.  At this point, however, there appears to be little agreement between employee and employer advocacy groups as to what those modifications should be.  To me, this issue represents an excellent opportunity to set politics aside and come together to devise a workable solution that protects the rights of this critically important component of the workforce.

What can we do in the meantime?

No matter what happens on the legislative front, there are several resources you can use right now to ensure that you’re doing all the right things to help your disabled employees. 

As we’ve discussed previously on the Blawg, one of the very best sources for information is the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), an excellent free service that assists employers with disability and accommodation issues.  JAN’s contact information is under the “Other Resources” section of the Blawg. 

In addition, we have answers to FAQs on the ADA and other statutes in our Employment Law Library (located in the “Tools & Tips” section).

Thanks for expressing yourselves!  Our next poll will be coming your way soon.

The votes are in on our poll related to the American Apparel sex harassment case.

We’re pleased to see that 96% said that if you were American Apparel’s HR person, you would advise the CEO to do all of the following:

• stop conducting meetings wearing only his underwear
• remove the pictures of naked women from his office
• stop talking to reporters (or at least refrain from the allegedly sexual behavior during interviews)
• settle the lawsuit as soon as humanly possible

Thanks for expressing yourselves!

To help reduce potential fistfights, riots and other forms of workplace violence, in our latest poll we sought a peaceful resolution to a highly controversial question that inevitably pops up at this time of year.  We asked:

What is the best holiday movie of all time?

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

A Christmas Story, with 32% of the votes.  The first runner-up was It’s a Wonderful Life (28%), followed by A Charlie Brown Christmas (14%).

Here are the complete results:

1.  A Christmas Story (32%)
2.  It’s a Wonderful Life (28%)
3.  A Charlie Brown Christmas (14%)
4.  (Tie) Elf and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (8%)
6.  (Tie) How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street (4%)
8.  Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (2%)
9.  Frosty the Snowman (0%)

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

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

One final question:  How in the world did Santa Claus Conquers the Martians beat out Frosty the Snowman?!

HAVE A JOYFUL AND PEACEFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!!!

Mark

Immigration-related issues continue to dominate the headlines.  The latest fight is a heated debate in Congress over English-only rules in the workplace.

Federal rules generally prohibit employers from implementing English-only requirements.  But Senate Republicans recently succeeded in passing a measure that would prevent the EEOC from filing lawsuits to enforce those rules.

The bill’s sponsor, Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, argues that employers should be free to require employees to communicate in English.  “One way to make sure that we have a . . . little more unity that is our country’s greatest accomplishment is to make certain that we value our common language,” Alexander said.

House Democrats and others attacked the proposed lawsuit ban, arguing that it will lead to increased discrimination.  Members of the Hispanic Caucus called Alexander’s amendment ”unnecessary language,” asserting that Title VII already allows employers to impose English-only rules where there is a legitimate business need.

We wanted to find out what you think, so our latest poll asked:  Should employers be allowed to impose English-only rules in the workplace?

Here’s how you responded.  It was a virtual dead-heat.

• 47% of you said:  Yes, but only if English is absolutely required for safety or other reasons.
• 46% of you said:  Yes, English-only rules are fine even though there’s no clear safety or other justification.
• 7% of you said:  No.

In other words — reflecting the divisiveness of the congressional debates – half of you are content with the current state of the law while the other half (like Alexander) wants a more aggressive approach.  Very interesting.

Stay tuned and thanks for expressing yourselves!

The results are in on our “Tell Us What To Do” poll. 

We asked you what you’ d like the subject of our next video to be.  So far, we’ve featured a bad Elvis impersonation, my bouncing head and a hapless singing duo — all in the name of spreading the employment law gospel.

Here’s what you said we said we should do next:  

1. Show you how NOT to investigate workplace complaints (34%)
2. The world’s first ever employment-law-theme rap video (16%)
3. A 60s-esque ode to love and peace in the workplace (16%)
4. The musical duo of Slimon & Carbunkle working with a not-so-helpful consultant to overcome a career crisis (12%)
5. A fake commercial showcasing an exciting new product — the People Fixer 2007 — certain to cure all HR woes known to man (22%)

So, based on your feedback, our next video will be How to Investigate if You Want to Get Investigated.  We’ll start working on it right away!

Thanks for your participation.

On Halloween, we hosted a webinar attended by more than 1,000 participants.  Because we had so many fine HR minds on the line, we thought we’d get their opinions on some key issues.

The first question we asked was:  Which employment law issue most often wakes you up in the middle of the night?  

The clear winner was discipline/termination.  Here are the full results:

• Discipline/termination (35%)
• Family and medical leave (15%)
• Workers’ comp (10%)
• Wage and hour (8%)
• Benefits (7%)
• Investigations (5%)
• Hiring (5%)
• Sexual harassment (4%)
• Immigration/I-9s (3%)
• Disabilities (2%)
• Unions (2%)

We’ll keep this data in mind as we design future webinars.

On a deeper, more philosophical level, we asked:  What’s the greatest work song of all time? 

Frankly, I’m still deeply disturbed/nauseous about the results.  As much as it pains me to put this in writing, the winner was Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5. 

Here are all the votes:

• 9 to 5 (Dolly Parton) (26%)
• Takin’ Care of Business (BTO) (20%)
• Take This Job and Shove It (Johnny Paycheck) (20%)
• Working for the Weekend (Loverboy) (9%)
• Money for Nothing (Dire Straits) (8%)
• Bang the Drum All Day (Todd Rundgren) (7%)
• Working on the Chain Gang (Sam Cooke) (3%)
• Get a Job (Silhouttes, Sha Na Na) (1%)
• Working in the Coalmine (Lee Dorsey, Devo) (1%)

Thanks again to all who participated in the webinar.  Another one will be coming your way in the Spring!

Mark

The results are in on our dress code poll.  Here they are:

A whopping 78% said they ”love dress codes:  reasonable restrictions make the workplace better.”

Only 22% said they ”hate dress codes:  jeans, flip flops, anything goes — as long as employees don’t show up naked, I’m happy.”

As promised, here are our Top Ten Tips For Fashion Police Success:

1. Test your current code.    If you already have a dress code, start with this little test:  Would it bar an employee from showing up in a bathrobe, snorkel, chaps, spurs and a beanie with a propeller on top?  If not, you might need to make a few changes.
2. Align the code with business strategies.  Dress codes should reinforce the company’s overall vision and strategies.   Ask yourself:  What image are we trying to project to clients, vendors and the general public?
3. Get employee input.  Consider forming a diverse employee focus group to give input as you create the code.  Doing so will help ensure inclusiveness, buy-in and better decisions.
4. Don’t recreate the wheel.  There are zillions of sample dress code policies available for free on the internet and elsewhere.  Ask your friends for their codes.  Use ‘em to generate ideas and shortcut the drafting process.
5. Keep it simple.  Dress codes don’t have to be 168 pages long with footnotes to cover every possible exception.  Keep the language simple and clear, with concrete, non-discriminatory examples.
6. Communicate, communicate, communicate.  Announce the code, include it in your employee handbook and follow change management principles to ensure that it sticks.
7. Enforce it.  Enforce the code consistently.  Inconsistent enforcement can lead to employee dissatisfaction and discrimination claims.
8. Make accommodations.  Be prepared to consider reasonable accommodations to avoid claims of discrimination.
9. Model it.  If you don’t follow the code, your employees won’t either.
10. Revisit it.  Review the code periodically based on employee and client feedback to ensure that it remains consistent with business needs (not to mention fashion trends).

Thanks again for your participation!  Our next poll will be posted shortly.

Thanks for expressing yourselves in our most recent polls. Here’s what you had to say . . .

Workplace Romance Bans a Thing of the Past? In response to a New York Times article suggesting that workplace romance prohibitions are on their way out, we asked for your thoughts.

Looks like you don’t agree with the Times (we don’t either). 51% of you reported that workplace romances still make you break out in hives. 25% are neither for nor against workplace romance. A grand total of 0% said that workplace romances are an important employee benefit.

More importantly, 24% of you indicated that you don’t particularly care about your own office but that the recent revelation that Jim and Pam of NBC TV’s The Office are dating was “a mistake” because it “released the underlying dramatic tension that propelled the show’s plot forward.” We agree.

EEOC: Too hard, too soft or just right? In another poll ripped from today’s headlines, we followed up recent accusations that the EEOC under President Bush is too soft on employers by asking what you think.

Again, you disagreed.

47% of you said that the EEOC is too hard on employers. Only 20% said that the EEOC is too soft. 33% said the EEOC is “just right.”

Thanks again for your input! We’ll post a new poll soon.

We here at Manpower are out to make the world a better place. In our last poll, we asked the question: If you could change one thing about attorneys, what would it be?

First let me say that, as a lawyer myself, I was encouraged by the fact that only 18% of you said “everything.”

The top vote-getter was “keep things simple — less legalese” with 24%.

Tied for second with “everything” was “charge less” with 18%.

“Be more responsive” was next with 10%, followed by “be more responsive,” “be more creative and solution-oriented” and “lighten up — laugh, sing, dance, etc. every once in awhile,” each with 6%.

The three lowest vote-getters were “be less adversarial” and “listen more and talk less,” each with 4%, and “know my business and industry better” with 3%.

We’ll pass along your feedback to as many lawyers as we can. Thanks for helping make the world a better place!