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I love the last week of the year. Most people take vacation. Not me. When work is slow, I like to be in the office. It’s when the office gets crazy that I take my vacation, because I know there is always someone else around to shoulder the burden. I’m a team player like that.

But regardless of whether you’re like me and you worked during the final week of 2010, or you took the week off, we can all agree that this week — when everyone comes back to work — is the worst of the year.

Lots of people are in bad moods this week. And what is one thing you never want to do when you are in a bad mood? Draft a work email or letter to someone who may be responsible for putting you in that bad mood. You see, I’m a firm believer in the “24-hour rule” when sending strongly-worded correspondence. That is, I draft the communication, file it away, and re-read it 24 hours later to determine whether I should really be sending it. Nearly every time, I trash it.

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A big part of my job as a labor and employment attorney is providing anti-harassment training to employees and supervisors. First, I help them identify what constitutes unlawful harassment in the workplace. Then I walk them through how to report and address it. Here, I emphasize that retaliation against a victim or a witness is never acceptable and is grounds for immediate termination. But, I also remind everyone that an employee who complains about unlawful harassment doesn’t receive a get-out-of-jail-free card. That is, if the “victim” violates company policy — e.g., by participating in behavior that also violates the anti-harassment policy — then discipline will follow. That’s not “retaliation.” Call it a rude awakening.

Just ask the Eighth Circuit. I’ll explain after the jump.
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In June 2008, I read a one-page article about Twitter in BusinessWeek or some other financial magazine and thought to myself, “This is stupid. Why would anyone want to send text messages to total strangers?”

So I signed up and created @emeyer88. And that was just the start.

My story and a lot of “thank you’s”, after the jump…

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Confession: I find bankruptcy VERY boring. And I loathe it. I’m a labor and employment attorney. When partners approach my door with bankruptcy assignments, I pick up the phone and pretend to yell at opposing counsel. So far I’m batting 1000.

But when I learned that the Third Circuit in Rea v. Federated Investors ruled that a private employer may refuse employment to a job applicant who has ever filed for bankruptcy, I mustered up the will power for this blog post.*Checks ESPN.com* Consider it my 2011 bankruptcy contribution.

I’ll break down the court’s ruling after the jump.

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Recently, I offered readers two ways to avoid employee claims of unlawful harassment. But let’s assume someone complains. It will happen, trust me. Are you prepared to conduct a thorough and efficient workplace investigation? If not, check out my article in Bloomberg Law Reports.

You can read it here.

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Next week is our firm holiday party. And I am a big fan.

At the party, I like to drink Four Loko boilermakers all night until I get blackout drunk socialize with colleagues for a few hours before cabbing home for the evening. Generally, I go crazy have a good time. But I rarely always keep it in check. There are others like me at OTHER holiday parties who succumb to the sweet nectar of the gods get a bit tipsy after consuming too many drinks. And where there’s Tipsy, both Handsy and Sailormouth generally come out to play too.

This will could happen at your business. So what steps are you taking to prepare for this inevitability possibility (besides having my number on speed-dial)? Not sure what to do? I’ll help you with some tips after the jump.

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sonicreceipt.jpgIf you know me, you know that I am a BIG advocate of social media policies for employers. I’ve written about it here. And I’ve spoken both to clients and at global conferences on the subject.

If you have not adopted a social media policy yet, check out this story by The Consumerist. It’s a sobering read about how important it is to educate employees about appropriate online behavior.

No, the title to this post isn’t gratuitous. Morran’s story involves an employee advertising hookers. The receipt to the right just may have given that away.

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Recently, I had an article published in Bloomberg Law Reports about how employers can reduce their potential exposure to employee litigation by implementing a strong anti-harassment policy and then coupling that with training for supervisors and employees. If I do say so myself — and I do — this is a good read for any employer.

You can read my article here.

“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”
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