Tomorrow, the Blawg’s ‘08 World Tour stops in lovely Omaha, Nebraska, where I will have the distinct honor and privilege of speaking to group of HR professionals and business owners.  If they’re nice, I might even sing them a song.

If you’d like the Blawg Tour to consider swinging by your town, please email us at blawg@manpower.com.  We’ll do everything we can to accommodate your request.  Generally, we like to shoot for audiences of 100 or more but will make exceptions if you are (a) located in a warm climate, (b) near a golf course and (c) the date is in Winter (which in Wisconsin lasts approximately eleven-and-a-half months).

The President is on the verge of signing a major overhaul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), entitled the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA).

This week’s question is designed to help you prepare for the changes:

As always, thanks for your participation!  We’ll publish a handy Cheat Sheet once the ADAAA is signed into law.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Thought I’d try to keep things simple today . . .

Far too often, people get mired in nitty factual details or the technical aspects of the law and forget the big picture.  To avoid that happening to you, we recommend asking one little question that can help you stay out of legal hot water:

What’s the right thing to do?

That’s the essence of all employment laws:  helping employers do what’s right.  Force yourself to keep asking that question every step of the way.

If you ignore all my other babblings here on the Blawg and remember nothing more than this, you should be just fine.

Each week, we post a thought-provoking question for your consideration.  Submit your answer, see what others think and then next we’ll give you the correct answer.

Here’s this week’s question . . .

As always, thanks for your participation!

Congrats to STEPHANIE CONN, the winner of our “Spot the Fake Dumb Law” Contest yesterday.  Stephanie correctly identified the bogus Texas law:  it is illegal to mention the name of the state directly to the north, which “shall heretofore be referred to as the ’smaller, vastly inferior state shaped like some kind of cooking utensil.’”

Also, congrats to DAVID COUILLARD, the winner of our “Spot the Bogus Employee Celebration” Contest.  David correctly identified “International Leave Work at 10:37 a.m. Day” as the fake holiday.  Accordingly, those who choose to observe that particular day do so at their own risk.

For their efforts, Stephanie and David have earned $25 gift certificates to any of the fine establishments on giftcertificates.com. 

As always, thanks to everyone who participated!

As part of our never-ending quest to keep you up-to-date on all aspects of employment law (even the dumb ones), our official Dumb Law Tour of the U.S. now brings us to the great state of Texas.

To make sure you’re paying attention, one of the laws described below is completely made up.  The first person to send an e-mail to blawg@manpower.com correctly identifying the fake law wins a valuable prize.

In Texas:

• employees may not emit obnoxious odors in an elevator
• hotels, conference centers, stores, banks, railroad depots and saloons are required to provide spittoons for employees and customers “of a kind and number to efficiently contain expectorations”
• employees may not toss confetti, rubber balls, feather dusters, whips or explosives of any kind in the workplace
• employees are prohibited from eating a co-worker’s garbage without permission
• at company-sanctioned social gatherings, employees may not take more than three sips of beer while standing
• it is illegal to drive company vehicles without windshield wipers (note:  a windshield is not required, just wipers)
• employees are forbidden from milking someone else’s cow in the workplace
• it is illegal to mention the name of the state directly to the north, which “shall heretofore be referred to as the ’smaller, vastly inferior state shaped like some kind of cooking utensil’”
• employees may not tuck their pants into one boot unless they own ten or more cattle
• company horses may not be ridden at night without taillights
• employees may not drive a company vehicle while within an arm’s length of alcohol (even if the alcohol is inside another person’s body)
• an employee may become legally married by introducing a person as his or her spouse three or more times at a company gathering
• employees may not sell their own skin to a co-worker
• criminals are required to give victims at least 24 hours’ notice explaining the nature of the crime they plan to commit

You have been warned.

If you have any dumb laws that you would like to bring to the world’s attention, please send us an e-mail at blawg@manpower.com.  (Special thanks to Blawg visitors Tiffany Stevens and Melinda Roewe for their suggestions, as well as the most excellent legal research sites dumblaws.com, crazylaws.com and idiotlaws.com.) 

Please note that the laws listed here are purely for entertainment purposes and that we make no representations or warranties concerning the validity or applicability of any particular law.

Each year, we as a nation set aside one day to recognize all the hard-working people that help make this country great.  In my humble opinion, that’s not nearly enough.

Why not extend the Labor Day love at least 24 hours by doing something nice for your employees tomorrow?  Bring in Krispy Kremes for everyone to share.  Treat everyone to lunch in the company cafeteria or maybe even Taco Bell.  Dust and vacuum their cubicles.  Sing ‘em a song.  Buy ‘em a car.

Study after study shows that workers who feel valued by their employers are happier, better team players, more productive and — as an added bonus that makes the employment lawyer in me smile — way less likely to sue.

As the employer of more than 5 million employees worldwide, we at Manpower are always looking for creative ways to make employees feel loved.  We’d love to hear how you do it.  Please send your most inspirational employee-recognition ideas to blawg@manpower.com.  The very best idea will win a fabulous prize.

Have a great day,

Mark

In honor of the Blawg’s one-year anniversary, we thought we’d pause a moment to gather the collective wisdom of our audience.  Here’s this week’s question:

It’s hard for me to believe, but this week the Blawg is celebrating its first birthday.

When we started this little project, we truly had no idea what to expect.  I figured I’d post something maybe once a week, no one would care, it would be cancelled after a month and then I’d go on with my life.  In fact, when I showed my work colleagues, my friends and even my wife some of the videos and other things we were planning, their collective response basically was:  “Are you trying to get fired?”

Well, I’m happy to report that I haven’t gotten fired (yet).  Thanks to your wonderful participation and support, our first year exceeded our wildest expectations.  The numbers are truly mind-boggling:  manpowerblogs.com has had more than 250,000 visitors, our quarterly webinars have grown to 2,000+ attendees and our Employment Law Alert has more than 1,500 subscribers.  Yikes.

To ensure that we keep things fresh, engaging and helpful, this week I’ll be soliciting your thoughts on what we should do next.  I’ll post a poll in the next few days.  In the meantime, please send any suggestions, concerns or comments to blawg@manpower.com.

Again, thanks for your support!

In preparation for our October 30 Halloween webinar, entitled Answers to the World’s Scariest Employment Law Questions, we hereby cordially invite you to send your nastiest, thorniest, most frightening legal questions to blawg@manpower.com. 

We’ll do our very best to answer each one of ‘em.  The very best ones will be covered during the webinar.

As always, thanks for your help and support!