How do you determine when an employee is impaired at work? How do you detect drug use in a remote work environment? When can you ask an employee to take a drug test? Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs sat down with Squarespace Senior Counsel Larissa Boz to talk about the popular Max series Industry and managing employee performance and drug use.

Continue Reading Max TV Series Industry and Drugs in the Workplace

Most companies know that they can’t demote or fire an employee because of their race or religion. But how can companies avoid making decisions based on unconscious bias? Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs sat down with CyberRisk Alliance VP of People Ying Wong to talk about the popular Netflix show Partner Track, workplace diversity, and unconscious bias.

Continue Reading Unconscious Bias and Netflix’s Partner Track

What risks do companies face for failing to timely and sometimes appropriately investigate workplace complaints? In the first video recording of the Hiring to Firing Podcast, Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs sit down with DS Smith General Counsel for North America Josh Burnette to talk about the popular Netflix show Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and workplace whistleblowing complaints.

Continue Reading Workplace Whistleblowing Complaints and Netflix’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Published in Law360 on March 28, 2023. © Copyright 2023, Portfolio Media, Inc., publisher of Law360. Reprinted here with permission.

George Costanza, a character from the classic sitcom “Seinfeld,” is the original “quiet quitter,” a term used for employees who do the bare minimum at work. Hear from the master himself:

Continue Reading Water Cooler Talk: Quiet Quitting Insights From ‘Seinfeld’

What responsibilities do managers and coworkers have to prevent or stop harassment in the workplace? Is silence just as bad as the harassment itself? Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs sit down with Megan Bigelow, assistant general counsel at Sonesta Hotels, to talk about the popular Apple TV series The Morning Show and harassment in the workplace. Hear all this and more in Episode 13 of the Hiring to Firing Podcast!

Continue Reading Bystander Responsibility in the Era of #MeToo: Lessons Learned From Apple TV’s The Morning Show

George Costanza was the master at “quiet quitting” — the latest term for employees who do the bare minimum. Have your employees joined this trend? Is production down in the office? Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs sit down with Paradies Lagardere litigation and compliance attorney Rebecca Silk to talk about the popular TV series Seinfeld and the quiet quitting trend. Hear all this and more in Episode 12 of the Hiring to Firing Podcast!

Continue Reading The Costanza Effect: What the TV Series Seinfeld Teaches Us About Quiet Quitting

What could possibly go wrong with firing employees for having “bad energy” or not being “a good fit?” Join Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs as they sit down with Fulton Bank Director of Organizational Effectiveness Allison Snyder to talk about the Apple TV+ series WeCrashed and the perils of these types of firings — including what happens when there’s a lack of professionalism and ethics in the workplace. Hear all this and more in Episode 11 of the Hiring to Firing Podcast!

Continue Reading Crashing and Burning: What Companies Can Learn From the Apple TV+ Series WeCrashed

Published in Law360 on January 20, 2023. © Copyright 2023, Portfolio Media, Inc., publisher of Law360. Reprinted here with permission.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden signed into law the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act,[1] which aims to protect U.S. intellectual property by imposing sanctions on companies and individuals involved in trade secrets theft.

Continue Reading Water Cooler Talk: Trade Secret Lessons From ‘Severance’

On January 5, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-1 to publish its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, proposing a new rule that, if implemented, would bar employers from entering into noncompete agreements with their workers, and require employers to rescind existing noncompete restrictions with current and former workers. The proposed rule supersedes state laws that are less protective of employees, but keeps the state law that provides employees greater protection. The proposed rule excludes franchisees from the definition of “worker” and has a single, limited exception that applies to the sale of a business.

Continue Reading FTC Proposes Rule to Ban Noncompete Clauses With Very Limited Exceptions

How does a company keep its trade secrets secret? What can companies do to protect their confidential information? In Episode 10 of the Hiring to Firing Podcast, Troutman Pepper Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs sat down with Tangibly CEO Tim Londergan and Troutman Pepper Partner Will Taylor to discuss the hit TV show Severance and how it relates to best practices in dealing with trade secret theft and protecting confidential information. Tune in for a lively discussion!

Continue Reading What Can the Show Severance Teach Us About Trade Secrets?