In my humble opinion, The Office is the world’s greatest employment law training aid. All you have to do is (1) watch it and (2) do the exact opposite of everything you see.

TONIGHT’S EPISODE. New Leads. Here’s NBC’sofficial description: “Tensions rise when Sabre adopts a ‘Sales is King’ policy in the office.”

OFFICIAL “ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A LAWYER?” CONTEST. Tune in tomorrow to see my detailed analysis of the episodes and exactly what I would tell Dunder Mifflin if I were its lawyer. Anyone who spots an employment law issue that I missed will be entitled to a valuable prize.

Enjoy!

To help us ensure that we’re giving you the information you need, each quarter we ask you to identify the employment law area that is giving you the most trouble. This quarter, we asked an audience of 1,987 HR professionals and business owners the following question . . .

What employment law issue gives you the most headaches?

“Medical Issues” topped the list once again, with 29.5% of the votes. That’s not too surprising, given the new HITECH Act and all the changes to the ADA and FMLA in the past year. Rising up the charts to take the #2 spot was “Wage & Hour” with 13.9%, followed closely by “Terminations” with 13.7% and then “Technology” with 8.9%.

Here are the top vote-getters:

1.   Medical issues (ADA, FMLA, HIPAA, HITECH, WC, etc.): 29.5%
2.   Wage & Hour (overtime, exemptions, independent contractors, etc.): 13.9% 
3.   Terminations: 13.7%
4.   Technology (social networking, computer usage, texting, etc.): 8.9%
5.   Litigation (EEOC charges, lawsuits, arbitrations, etc.): 7.3%
6.   Hiring: 7.2%
7.   RIFs: 6.7%
8.   Investigations: 6.6%
9.   Immigration (I-9s, visas, etc.): 3.2%
10. Unions: 3.1%

We’ll use these results to guide the content we create here on the Blawg, as well as our upcoming webinars. Thanks for expressing yourselves!

Here’s this week’s question . . .

First let me say that, as a lawyer myself, I was encouraged by the fact that only 12% of you said “everything.”

The top vote-getter was “charge less” with 19%. Right behind it was “keep things simple — less legalese” with 18%. The fourth most popular response was “be more responsive” with 8%.

“Listen more and talk less,” “know my business better” and “be more creative and solution-oriented” all tied with 5%. Bringing up the rear was “lighten up — laugh, sing, dance, etc. every once in awhile” with 3%.

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

Our next Question of the Week will be coming your way soon. As always, thanks for your participation!

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

Last Night’s Episode: St. Patrick’s Day.

The Plot: Here’s NBC’s official description: “Michael struggles to impress his new boss.”

My Analysis:

1. Issue: Viagra Stopped Being Funny in 2003
   Description: Michael opened the episode with an inappropriate (and lame) Viagra joke.
   Risk: $
2. Issue: National Origin Discrimination
   Description: Several employees made inappropriate comments about those with Irish heritage. Michael called St. Patrick’s Day, “the closest the Irish will ever get to Christmas.”
   Risk: $$
3. Issue: Mega-desk Addiction
   Description: Dwight openly struggled with withdrawal from the “mega-desk” he created by pushing his and Jim’s desks together while Jim was on paternity leave. Knowing Dwight, it won’t be long ’til he files some sort of complaint.
   Risk: $$
4. Issue: Damage to Property
   Description: Jim (twice) knocked Dwight’s personal effects off the mega-desk and onto the ground.
   Issue: $$ 
5. Issue: Pets in the Workplace
   Description: Sabre’s CEO probably violated company policy (and maybe even workplace safety regulations) by bringing her two monstrous dogs into the workplace.
   Risk: $$
6. Issue: Emotional Distress from Actually Working
   Description: The employees seemed to be in shock from having to do some actual work because the new CEO was in town.
   Risk: $$
7. Issue: Sexual Harassment
   Description: Andy continued his rather pathetic pursuit of Erin, showing up at her house even though she went home sick from work. Andy exacerbated the situation by wearing a way-too-short kilt (which he admitted was actually his sister’s old field hockey uniform).
   Risk: $$$
8. Issue: Workplace Violence
   Description: Like every week, Dwight appeared to be on the verge of a major eruption. He compared himself to a volcano, saying he was “about to erupt with the molten lava of strategy.” I have no idea what that means.
   Risk: $$
9. Issue: Sick Employees
   Description: The company apparently has failed to adopt any of the government’s recommendations circulated in the midst of the H1N1 scare. Erin spent most of the episode sneezing all over the premises and no one did anything ’til approximately the 267th sneeze.
   Risk: $$
10. Issue: “Reverse” Discrimination
    Description: Actually, there’s no such thing as “reverse discrimination.” Discrimination is discrimination. Sabre’s creation of a training program available only to “people of color” could face challenges from non-minority employees.
    Risk: $$$
11. Issue: Promotion
    Description: The new CEO promoted Daryl on the spot, based solely on a cartoon he drew  to illustrate potential cost savings in the warehouse. Promoting someone without following an established process could expose the company to potenial discrimination complaints by those who didn’t get promoted. In addition, Michael made rather insensitive comments to Daryl — suggesting that his promotion was because of blackmail or some other nefarious plot unrelated to his skills and experience — could lead to a complaint.
    Risk: $$
12. Issue: Torturing the New Dad
    Description: Dwight spent most of the episode trying to convince Jim to return home to care for his newborn so that Dwight could claim the mega-desk again. Dwight went so far as to sing Jim the Cats in the Cradle song to try to make him feel guilty. It actually worked (a first for anything Dwight was ever attempted).
    Risk: $$
13. Issue: Misrepresentation
    Description: Jim got permission to leave early after lying to the new CEO about a client meeting.
    Risk: $
14. Issue: Overtime
    Description: Several non-exempt employees were required to work overtime. Hopefully, the company will pay ‘em appropriately. Wage and hour suits can be both painful and expensive.
    Risk: $$$
15. Issue: Drunk Employees
    Description: Michael offered to buy all the employees a drink at the bar in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Even though they turned him down, several employees were visibly intoxicated. Michael, Packer and Meredith formed a highly inappropriate conga line.
    Risk: $$
16. Issue: Various Other Inappropriate Comments and Actions
    Description: Once again, virtually every employee said or did something inappropriate. As always, Michael led the pack, making comments about Oscar’s sexual preference and other things too disgusting to print here. Packer averages more vulgarities per second than any other character on TV.
    Risk: $$$$$$$

OFFICIAL “ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A LAWYER?” CONTEST: Anyone who leaves a comment below identifying an employment law issue that I missed will win a valuable prize. If you didn’t get a chance to see the episode, you can view it on NBC’s official web site here.

As always, thanks for your participation!

The refinery “often ignored or severely delayed fixing known hazards,” according to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. “There is no excuse for taking chances with people’s lives.”

OSHA began inspecting the refinery in September 2009 as part of its National Emphasis Program. For more on the process and the specific allegations, click here. Under OSHA regulations, the company has 15 business days to comply, request an “information conference” with OSHA or contest the findings with the OSHA Review Commission.

The Lesson? The message from the government is loud and clear: it fully intends to follow through on its promise to enforce employment laws much more aggressively. It has invested millions of dollars and created dozens of new enforcement-focused positions to do exactly that.

Now is not the time to be lax in complying with the law — particularly in the area of employee health and safety.

In my humble opinion, The Office is the world’s greatest employment law training aid. All you have to do is (1) watch it and (2) do the exact opposite of everything you see.

TONIGHT’S EPISODE. St. Patrick’s Day. Here’s NBC’sofficial description: “Michael struggles to impress his new boss.” Personally, I can’t imagine Michael NOT struggling to impress someone (particularly his rather sociopathic new boss, played by Kathy Bates).

OFFICIAL “ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A LAWYER?” CONTEST. Tune in tomorrow to see my detailed analysis of the episodes and exactly what I would tell Dunder Mifflin if I were its lawyer. Anyone who spots an employment law issue that I missed will be entitled to a valuable prize.

Enjoy!

ARE YOU READY FOR MARCH MADNESS?

Beginning next week, every single NCAA basketball tournament game will be available live online. Employers have three options: (1) ignore the madness, (2) try to stop it or (3) embrace it.

The following is a detailed and highly scientific analysis of those three approaches, along with our recommendations.

Ignore the Madness. This is the option selected by most employers. They pretend as if what is arguably humankind’s most significant annual event never even happens. They can’t figure out why employee attendance suddenly drops precipitously in mid-March or why the few employees who actually come to work start traveling in packs wearing identical colors and disappearing into conference rooms from which occasional cheering and shouting can be heard. These employers are also surprised when the hopelessly overloaded IT system eventually blows up, prompting a mass exodus of employees in search of the nearest sports bar. The Verdict?  Not recommended.

Stop the Madness. Due to IT and productivity concerns, some employers try to put an end to the madness by banning all employees from even thinking about basketball in the workplace. Some even put fancy filters on their IT system to prevent employees from watching the games online. Typically, however, these employers’ computer systems will be just fine even without the filters because only a handful of employees will show up for work. The Verdict?  Not recommended.

Embrace the Madness. Some forward-looking employers take advantage of the situation and make an effort to incorporate March Madness into the whole work experience. To avoid IT meltdowns, they set up TVs in key gathering areas for certain games and encourage employees to do some bonding while whooping it for their favorite teams. Good feelings abound and grateful employees put in extra hours out of gratitude to the company. The Verdict?  Recommended.

Here’s a poll to help you get in the spirit of the games. Thanks in advance for expressing yourselves.

Year-Over-Year Increase: With a seasonally adjusted Outlook of +5%, employers indicate a moderate increase in hiring expectations compared to one year ago, when the seasonally adjusted Outlook was -2%.

Stability Continues: 73% of employers — a record-tying high — expect to keep staff levels stable, which is good news for the currently employed.

Industries Recovering: 12 of 13 industry sectors surveyed report positive Net Employment Outlooks, meaning that employers in most industry sectors plan to add staff during the second quarter. Increased hiring is expected in Leisure & Hospitality (+17%), Professional & Business Services (+15%), Mining (+11%), Nondurable Goods Manufacturing (+9%), Financial Activities (+9%), Durable Goods Manufacturing (+8%), Information (+8%), Transportation & Utilities (+8%), Wholesale & Retail Trade (+7%), Construction (+4%), Other Services (+4%) and Education & Health Services (+3%). The second quarter outlook is negative only for employers in Government (-1%).

Local Picture Improving: Among 201 surveyed Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 94% indicate a positive or neutral Net Employment Outlook, indicating that cautious optimism is becoming more widespread geographically.

Regional Picture Improving: A positive outlook is reported in all four of the U.S. regions surveyed. The Northeast has the strongest Outlook (+8%), followed by the South (+6%) and the West (+6%). The Midwest has the weakest Outlook (+4%).

Move to Alaska? What’s the absolute hottest area of the country in terms of hiring? Believe it or not, it’s Anchorage, Alaska (+22%).

About the Survey

Manpower releases the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey quarterly to measure employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter. It is the only forward-looking survey of its kind and is unparalleled in size, scope, longevity and area of focus.

The complete results — including a breakdown of the 201 MSAs — are available here. Click here for a snappy video with the highlights of the results.

We recently asked 1,987 HR and business professionals the following question:

Which social networking tools do you use?

Here are the responses:

• LinkedIn only: 14%
• Facebook only: 16%
• Twitter only: 0.3%
• LinkedIn and Facebook: 31%
• Facebook and Twitter: 3%
• LinkedIn and Twitter: 1%
• LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter: 9%
• None:27%

Let’s break it down . . .

Looks like more and more of you are getting connected . . .

• The percentage of those who don’t use any social networking tools dropped pretty significantly since our last poll (from more than a third to slightly more than a quarter).
• The most popular tool is Facebook, followed closely by LinkedIn, both of which are used by more than half of our audience.
• Only 12% of you use Twitter, but that number more than doubled in the past quarter.
• The most popular combination of tools is LinkedIn and Facebook, followed by LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks for your participation! Stay tuned for more on the latest trends affecting the wonderful world of workplace law.