Friends & colleagues, If you've been furloughed or laid off and we've worked together in the past, please consider messaging me to let me know how I can help. The world is small; let’s use our connections to make it even smaller. Connect with me if you haven’t already and let’s work together. I can: 1. Endorse your skills on LinkedIn. 2. Write a recommendation for you. 3. Introduce you to a contact of mine. 4. Recommend and share resources with you. This isn't really my idea. I saw it elsewhere, but I like it. And want to give it some traction. Encourage others to do the same!

Turns out it's optional. Though you won't find that explicitly stated in either the Order or the recent IRS Guidance "clarifying" it. THAT takes a phone call to the IRS Hotline. But the Agency remains a little foggy on the basis for this conclusion. They're promising yet another FAQ on that part of it. So ... why? ... amid great fanfare, pomp and circumstance ... did the President dramatically roll out his Executive Order? And declare it a gift to (whom else?) the American worker? And further promise that, if reelected, he would do everything he could to forgive the tax entirely? And ... like a mythical champion of the people ... dare their bosses and congress to stand in the way? Aside from the legal questions surrounding whether the Executive office even has the authority to do this, there's really no question that the action is a deferral -- not an exemption. An exemption would undoubtedly put the Social Security fund in peril. No one really believes the President, if reelected would, literally with the stroke of a pen, successfully eliminate that tax obligation. I'll tell you what that was all about. That was Donald Trump running the country the way he ran his business. Smoke, mirrors and illusory promises. Leaving everyone, anyone -- usually one whom he felt had wronged him in some undetermined way -- holding the bag. Could it be that the President's pollsters have determined that he's already lost the employer vote? He certainly did everything he could with this move to put employers in a most difficult position. Who knows. That's a different discussion. This one's just about calling that announcement what it really was: political theater.

The law develops quickly in this area. So quickly, it sometimes seems like a moving target. Whether it's complying with your legal obligations toward a new protected class, understanding new and emerging definitions for a class that already exists, or providing a safe workplace for employees during a public health scare, employers already have a lot on their plates. And those plates are spinning.

The fact of the matter is that there rarely is one. In most cases (from the employer's perspective) an EEOC investigation consists of little more than receiving notice of the charge, waiting until the agency delivers a Notice of Right to Sue letter to the Complainant, and then waiting to see if the Complainant files a lawsuit in federal court. But if the Agency does happen to investigate the charge against you? Well then ... it's time to buckle up for a bumpy ride.

Tom Cruise was right. Remember "The Firm"? Even after the relationship ends, the attorney (in possession of a former client's confidential information) is like a ship at sea carrying cargo that never reaches any port. That ship will always be at sea.