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What I've Been Reading This Week


With a shorter week in the office this week because of Thanksgiving, I will keep this post shorter and to the point.  (Perhaps post Thanksgiving dinner, readers can peruse a few of these articles).

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


An Employee Gets Sick? It Is Probably Advisable to Have Them Stay Home If At All Possible

We have all been there at one point:  You wake up in the morning and feel out of sorts.  Maybe it is constant sneezing or coughing, having the chills, running a temperature, etc.  Inevitably, the question arises whether you should tough it out and go into work.  As Daniel Victor at The New York Times advises, employers should encourage employees that are sick to stay at home until they get better.  Of course this is easier said than done for many employees.  Being out of the office/workplace means the work will back up, deadlines could be missed, conference calls will have to be re-set, etc.  However, the potential risk to other employees coming in contact with a sick employee (and subsequently catching the cold) put an employer's entire workforce at risk.  If it cannot be avoided and the sick employee shows up to work, Daniel has a few suggestions on what can be done to minimize contact and potential exposure to other employees.


Bike Rider Fired For Giving President Trump's Motorcade the Middle Finger

File this one under "think before you act".  Readers might have heard that a bike rider gave President Trump's motorcade the middle finger a few weeks ago.  After the White House press pool took a picture of the bike rider engaged in said act, the bike rider used the photo as a social media avatar.  The picture quickly spread online and in the news and after the bike rider told her employer, a government contractor, she was subsequently fired.  According to the employer, employees cannot have "lewd" or "obscene" things in their social media, not to mention that as a government contractor, the employer was worried it could hurt their business.  Employees, what you do on your own time is in essence your own business.  However, when you "publicize" your own bad conduct (note, the bike rider's face was not visible in the picture...so unless she went out of her way to identify herself as the middle finger waving bike rider, no one would have likely known), and your employer is a government contractor, expect to have things go south.

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