Employers and business professionals are no strangers to “off-the-record” conversations and closed-door meetings. In today’s world, though, many long for a way to converse online without a permanent record of the conversation existing somewhere out there in Internet-land. New apps have responded to this need; think Snapchat (the popular app that allows users to set a predetermined time for how long recipients can view their photos) for text messaging. TigerText, Wickr, and Confide are just some of the self-destructing text apps that have recently emerged. Businesses, however, should proceed with caution when using these – they could not only present an air of impropriety but also be a legal hazard.

The holidays are a joyous time of year, but many employers face the season with a certain sense of trepidation as their employees inevitably request time off work.  As the holiday season kicks into full gear, now is a good time for employers to refresh themselves on basic guidelines for granting and denying employees’ vacation requests.

When Miami Dolphins player Jonathan Martin made allegations that veteran teammate Richie Incognito had bullied and hazed him so badly that he had no choice but to leave the team, the NFL was collectively stunned. Bullying in professional football? Can such a thing exist?

Some business assets are easy to spot: a company car or fax machine, for example. Others are intangible, like a bank account or line of credit.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) requires any employer with fifteen or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities, as long as doing so does not result in “undue hardship” to the employer. A reasonable accommodation can be any change in the work place that helps a person with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities. The ADA has very strict guidelines about when and how an employer may inquire about an employee’s disability. What happens, though, when a non-ADA employee asks you, the employer, why another employee is receiving perceived preferential treatment?

At this time of the year when the flu, strep throat and other illnesses are making their way through our children, friends and society in general, it is good for employers to be mindful of their options, but more importantly to plan ahead for employees who come to work visibly ill.  While many people want to “tough it out” through an illness, the reality is that by toughing it out an employee may in fact be compromising the health of others and decreasing the productivity of an entire workplace.  The time to ask what to do about such an employee is not when the employee sits down at his/her desk at the start of the work day or takes his/her place on the assembly line.  Rather, the best time to consider how to handle these inevitable situations is well before they occur.