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The Employer Handbook Blog
Articles Posted in Miscellaneous
If Workplaces Had a 2025 Spotify Wrapped
Before the champagne pops and the Slack notifications finally stop, it’s worth pausing to reflect on what actually defined the workplace this year.
Not the initiatives.
Not the slogans.
The refrains.
Some of these are healthy habits. Others are the phrases that tend to show up right before problems do.
Here’s what kept ending up on repeat in 2025. Continue reading
Email Subject Lines That Mean “I Should Not Be Sending This on Christmas Eve”
A Helpful Guide for People About to Hit “Send” Anyway
Despite decades of evidence, some professionals continue to believe Christmas Eve is an appropriate time to introduce new thoughts into the workplace. It is not.
For those who remain uncertain, what follows is a non-exhaustive list of email subject lines that function as a legally binding confession: I should not be sending this today. Continue reading
🦃 Welcome to the The Employer Handbook Annual Thanksgiving Food Poll: 2025 Edition
Millions of Americans will sit down tomorrow and pretend that every dish on the table is:
- cooked through (optimistically),
- technically food, and
- made with love,
when in reality at least three items will be:
- described as “interesting,”
- wrapped in foil that looks suspiciously like it came straight from a minivan, and
- transported in a Tupperware container from 1998.
So once again, in the name of democracy and questionable priorities, I’m opening the 2025 Thanksgiving Food Ballot, where voters will select their favorites across four key categories.
This is not a poll.
This is Election Night coverage nobody asked for.
What happens when “He harassed me” turns into “You defamed me”?
A recent federal case shows how a workplace investigation can flip fast—from harassment complaint to defamation claim. The employer followed the playbook and won. The accuser did not. Continue reading
It’s Bobby Bonilla Day. Again. And Again. And Again.
Every July 1, we gather to celebrate a modern fable. A baseball player hasn’t swung a bat in over two decades, yet his bank account gets a seven-figure boost—like clockwork.
That man is Bobby Bonilla. That day is today. And the story never gets old. Continue reading
This Is Goodbye.
Friends, colleagues, HR professionals, risk managers, compliance nerds, and the occasional law student who wandered here by mistake, I never thought this day would come. Continue readingSubject: Out of Office – Fly Eagles Fly!
Internal:
Subject: Out of Office – Fly Eagles Fly!
I am currently out of the office, celebrating the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory with thousands of my closest friends (and one very excited son). If you need immediate assistance, please ask yourself, “Is this more important than the Birds winning it all?” If yes, I’ll question your priorities (and consider reporting you to the General Counsel) when I return. If no, I’ll be back on Monday, hopefully with my voice intact.
Go birds!🦅🏆 Continue reading
Looking for Dallas-area BBQ recommendations for this weekend.
vxla from Chicago, US, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
I fear I have developed a reputation on this blog as a Dallas hater. This is not true. Not really. Continue reading