What does your management style say about you? Do you demand perfection from your team? Is perfectionism a double-edged sword? Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs sit down with Elise Holtzman, founder of The Lawyer’s Edge, to talk about the classic movie, The Devil Wears Prada, and the difference between pursuing perfectionism and pursuing excellence.

Q. Has the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued any recent guidance regarding employers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI)?

A. Yes. On May 18, the EEOC released new guidelines, explaining how employers’ use of AI could trigger a federal employment law violation. This development makes the government’s position clear: Employers using AI in the workplace run the risk of violating antidiscrimination law — specifically, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Sometimes it’s not what you say, but how you say it. What’s the best approach to managing and getting the most out of your employees? Are there gender and generational challenges to administering performance management effectively?  Is communication and training the answer? Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs sat down with Laura Yehuda, a Principal with Ernst & Young LLP’s People Advisory Services, to talk about the popular TV show, The Bear, hoagies versus subs, and best practices when delivering performance messages.

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.

Q. Do temporary workers have workplace protections in New Jersey?

A. Yes. On February 6, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Assembly Bill No. A1474 / S511 (also known as the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights). The Bill of Rights establishes several new labor and employment protections for the state’s 125,000+ temporary workers.

Q. May employees use abusive language when raising grievances about working conditions?

A. In many circumstances, the answer is (again) yes. On May 1, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) overruled its July 2020 decision that changed the standard for cases involving “abusive employee conduct” during labor disputes and negotiations, reverting back to a test that it used in some form or another for approximately 70 years. In its decision, the NLRB found that an employee did not lose National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) Section 7 protections when he used strong language and acted less than civil when raising grievances about working conditions.

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.

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.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division recently suffered another setback in its most recent effort to secure criminal convictions for labor-side violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Having finally secured a successful criminal conviction, which came by way of plea deal and deferred prosecution agreement, the DOJ proceeded to trial in Maine against four home health executives who the government alleged had conspired to enter into a no-poach agreement and fix wages paid to home health aides. After a two-week trial, the jury acquitted all four of the defendants, marking the third time the DOJ has failed to convince a jury to convict defendants for alleged Section 1 violations in the labor market.

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: