Donna Ballman's Blog
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Jan.07.2013
I just finished watching Episode 11 of this season's Good Wife, called, "Boom De Yah Da." Where do I begin? The writers must be watching that idiotic show about "mediation," Fairly Legal for their research. They couldn't have been more off base if they tried.
First of all, our heroes get a "Notice...
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Nov.26.2012
I'm excited and honored to say that this blog was named one of the ABA Blawg 100. Editors of the ABA Journal announced today they have selected Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home as one of the top 100 best blogs for a legal audience.
They chose six Labor and Employment blogs to be part of their top...
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May.05.2012
A couple of weeks ago, The Good Wife dealt with at-will employment in an episode called The Penalty Box. In that episode, Cary Agos, the former colleague of our heroine Alicia, who joined the prosecutor’s office in a huff a few years ago, decided to interview at Alicia’s firm. The prosecutor’s...
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Feb.05.2012
I know I don’t usually talk about criminal procedure here in The Write Report. My forte is civil law, not criminal. But a recent Supreme Court case put the kibosh on a very common plot device, so I wanted to alert you to it.
You see it all the time on TV. The cops put a tracking device under the...
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Jan.19.2012
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled last Wednesday on the so-called "ministerial exemption" to employment discrimination laws on Wednesday, finding that churches are allowed to discriminate. The exemption is something you won't find in Title VII or other discrimination laws, but is purely a...
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Jan.12.2012
In the episode “Parenting Made Easy,” The Good Wife represents a professor who claims she was fired due to discrimination based upon her political beliefs. Whether or not such a claim would exist in the real world depends on whether the school is public or private.
There’s a real-life case going...
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Jan.05.2012
It’s been a running plot line in The Closer this season that our heroine, Brenda, is being sued. First, her hubby ponied up the money secretly because the City wouldn’t pay to defend her. When she found out, she was understandably upset. Especially since the city should have been defending her...
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Jan.03.2012
Did you hear the one where the Republican contender for president said we ought to repeal child labor laws? Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but if you weren't paying attention due to all the holiday parties, you might have missed Newt Gingrich's comments on the subject. He said that...
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Dec.29.2011
It’s time to dig out the magic 8-ball app on my iPad and predict what will be coming in the writing and publishing industry in 2012. We’re in the midst of giant changes in the industry. Here’s what I think will happen this year:
Full-service e-books: With all the laid-off folks from the...
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Dec.13.2011
It's that most wonderful time of the year. Mistletoe, eggnog and holiday parties in the office make employment lawyers rub their hands together with glee. That's because we get very busy in January after all the party-related firings. There's sexual harassment, discrimination, recriminations,...
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Dec.03.2011
I'm incredibly honored to have my blog, Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home named one of the American Bar Association's Blawg 100 of 2011. Out of over 3500 lawyer blogs, eight of my favorite labor and employment blogs were chosen along with my blog. Of those, I'm pretty sure mine is the only employee-...
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Nov.09.2011
In the wake of the Herman Cain sexual harassment scandal, some conservatives are making outrageous and insulting statements about women who are sexual harassment victims. They ask, "Is there anyone who thinks sexual harassment is a real thing?" (National Review). "Experts" spout off nonsense like...
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Oct.18.2011
Just like the Tea Party on the other side, the Occupy Wall Street movement is on the brink of having real political power. Everyone wants to know -- what do they want? What changes will they ask for? With unemployment still hovering at 9% and people scared they will lose their jobs for...
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Oct.07.2011
In honor of Jobs Week on AOL Jobs, I want to speak up in praise of an entity that has taken a beating this year – the labor union. Anti-union sentiment has spread from state to state, and union busting has become popular under the banner of money savings. Before your billionaire CEO...
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Sep.28.2011
It's still not decided everywhere in America, but in the 5th Circuit (Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas) you can now sue your employer for age-based harassment. That's right. Up until now, employers argued that you could be harassed at work due to your age and couldn't do anything about it. And in...
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About Donna
Donna Ballman is the award-winning author of The Writer's Guide to the Courtroom: Let's Quill All the Lawyers, a book geared toward informing novelists and screenwriters about the ins and outs of the civil justice system. Her new book, Stand Up For Yourself...
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