“Tis the Season to be Jolly”, or so they say. While we turn to eggnog, gingerbread cookies and a cozy fire to forget our troubles, our dedicated politicians, employment lawyers and government legislatures never rest! Just when you were ready to get out and start caroling down the streets, along comes the Employment Grinch to bring sobriety to your intoxicated holiday cheer!

To kick off the holiday season, let’s talk about the Corporate Holiday Party. If you are like most businesses, you will be hosting one sort of party or another. Before you start uncorking the champagne, we suggest you read the following articles:

Jon Hyman’s post on Booze, Sex and HR: maintain perspective; accept corporate responsibility

Shaun Reid’s article, The Company Holiday Party: HR’s Role as Party Planner

Mark Toth’s post, Top 5 Holiday Party Tips.

Do you have any employees planning on celebrating their holidays with a new baby? Here is Andrea W. S. Paris’s post on California Pregnancy and Parental Leave Laws to help set the facts straight.

With 75% of employees active in Social Media, it’s just a matter of time until one of your staff posts their favorite picture taken dancing with the boss’s wife on their Facebook page. However, before making any brash decisions, be sure to check out Robert B. Fitzpatrick’s post, Sternly, and in Writing, Warn Clients Not To Mess With Facebook. Or, even worse,  they may actually share their lewd pictures over email with each other! Wondering how to manage that?? See Philip Miles’ Ranking Workplace Porn Emails.

Now, if things escalate and you are in the unfortunate position to let that employee go, you should read John Holmquist’s Note to Employers: Avoid the Aggie Way before taking the first step.

But we all know what happens next – faster than a speeding sleigh, the employee files a wrongful termination lawsuit (does your Employee Handbook say anything explicitly about not emailing lewd party images to co-workers??). Dawn Lomer provides some good advice in Bad News Can Be Good for a Wrongful Termination Lawsuit.

If you’re lucky enough to avoid a lawsuit, don’t be surprised if your ex-employee starts badmouthing  you to your clients, ruining everyone’s holiday cheer. Uh-oh. Better check out Adam P. Whitney’s post  You’re Damned if You Don’t Deal with Rogue Ex-Employees before things get out of hand.

Once the holidays wind down, employees will no doubt share their vacation experiences over breaks with their co-workers. Heather Bussing covers the hot topic of breaks and lunch periods in her post, Are Employers the Lunch Police?

Whew! And when it’s finally time to move on and recruit new talent to replace your former employee, Donna Ballman offers an employee-side perspective  regarding Employment Offer Letters and Joan Ginsberg has some suggestions for conducting video job interviews, Legal Concerns – Video Job Interviews.

If you are feeling exhausted and depressed and sapped of all your festive cheer, Robin E. Shea helps us get back into the spirit with her uplifting post, 10 Reasons for Employers to be Jolly about the ADA.

And who ever said the holidays weren’t fun??

Happy New Year everyone!