New York Employment Lawyer Blog

This week, 37 million Americans will fill out NCAA tournament brackets. That's an incredible number. Today, President Obama filled out his bracket in a televised event that later made headlines across the country. The popularity of the NCAA tournament is undeniable.

However, unlike most other major sporting events, the NCAA tournament is aired smack in the middle of the work day and is available via streaming video on the internet. Needless to say, the temptation to watch the tournament on your workplace computer is now much harder to resist considering how easy it is to pull it off. Some commentators have gone so far as to suggest that the US economy is impacted by the decline in worker productivity which results from tournament fans tuning in during work hours. Doesn't seem like a stretch.

Can you be fired for watching the tournament at work? Of course. In New York, and in most states, employees can be fired for any reason or no reason at all, provided that unlawful discrimination and/or retaliation is not involved.

The better question is how to safely avoid detection while watching in the workplace. This is more puzzling. The challenge is twofold: (1) the tournament is long, so there is more opportunity for detection, and (2) watching a sporting event is not easy to conceal. My advice - watch on your computer, mute the volume and avoid excessive celebration. If you get caught, tell the truth and don't call a lawyer if you get fired because you're toast.

Better yet, just take a day off.

This is a very hard question to answer. I usually ask a few questions before providing a response - do you want to? Why? The first thing you need to do is look in the mirror and ask why you want to leave. If you can convince yourself (or maybe your spouse or another trusted person in your life) that you are not being treated fairly and need to leave, then you should start to plan a departure. Don't make a hasty decision. With few exceptions, you can't take back a resignation, and if you have access to sensitive company information, your departure may be hastened if your employer perceives any threat of disloyalty.

Practically speaking, the problem with resigning is that the law does not encourage it. With few exceptions, a resignation means forfeiting your right to unemployment, recovery for having to leave the workplace due to harassing behavior, entitlement to any unpaid bonus compensation (even earned) and/or a severance payment. Why are people forced to endure unfairness? If I had a dollar for every time I answered this question, I'd be a rich man. Public policy encourages employment, even if this creates hardship for some.

If you must leave the workplace, consult with an attorney about the best way to go about it. If you are leaving due to workplace hostility, you will need to know (1) what you are allowed to remove from the workplace, (2) what you should say/do on your way out and (3) what type of treatment and compensation you can expect from your employer after you resign.

If you lose your job, remember what is most important to you - finding another job. Sure it might be important to talk to a lawyer to help negotiate a better severance or maybe you even want to sue your old employer, but that is not priority one. Finding a new employer is more important than anything. Here is a great blog post called
"Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job" by Guy Kawasaki.