After a year of collecting 12 nominees and then letting you all decide from the final seven via ranked-choice voting, we didn't even need a second round. The votes were that decisive and the result was never in doubt. 🏆 Worst Employer of 2025: The ...
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The Worst Employer of 2025 is… 🥁

After a year of collecting 12 nominees and then letting you all decide from the final seven via ranked-choice voting, we didn't even need a second round. The votes were that decisive and the result was never in doubt.

🏆 Worst Employer of 2025: 
The New Jersey Organ and Tissue Sharing Network 

Why? Because the allegations described in the November 19, 2025, report released by the House Ways and Means Committee are the stuff of nightmares.

According to that report (and the whistleblower accounts described in it), investigators allege:

Attempts to recover organs from people who did not consent to be donors.

Families being misled about the authority the organization did (and didn't) have.

Organs reportedly procured and then discarded, not for medical reasons, but to chase federal performance metrics.

And the one I still can't shake and sealed this victory: a patient declared dead, the recovery process began… and then the patient reanimated. Whistleblowers told investigators the CEO instructed the team to "proceed with recovery" anyway. Thankfully, hospital staff intervened to halt this atrocity.

Layer on top of that allegations of deleted/manipulated documents and misleading statements to Congress, and you get something far bigger than "bad management." This is a textbook example what happens when leadership loses the plot so completely that human beings become KPIs and ethics/morals are ignored (if they ever existed at all).

To be crystal clear, these are allegations described by congressional investigators. But if even a meaningful portion of them are true, this isn't just "worst employer" material—this is a collapse of basic humanity.

Thanks to everyone who shared your thoughts throughout the year on the various nominees, sent me nominees of your own, and voted. The bar for "Worst Employer" gets higher every year. Somehow, this cleared it.

See you next year with a new batch of nominees.

Five things to consider in a difficult termination

Today is your final day to VOTE for the Worst Employer of 2025

One of my recurring professional nightmares is advising a client on a termination that goes badly.

Not "this ends in a lawsuit" badly—but catastrophically badly. The kind that devolves into workplace violence, an active shooter situation, or some other despicable act that no one saw coming but everyone later says should have been anticipated.

That fear drives my mantra with clients: you can never be too careful. If there's even a whiff that something could go sideways—emotional volatility, erratic behavior, mental health concerns, escalating conduct—you take reasonable steps to make sure it doesn't. You plan. You slow down. You involve the right people. You treat the termination not as an HR task, but as a safety event.

Which brings me to former Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore.

Based on public reporting, Michigan terminated Moore "for cause" after an investigation concluded he had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Within hours, Moore was taken into custody in connection with an alleged assault. Subsequent reporting suggests university leadership was aware of mental health concerns before the termination, yet the firing allegedly occurred in a one-on-one meeting, without HR present and without security.

From a risk-management perspective, this is about as close to a worst-case scenario as it gets. Here are five lessons every employer should take to heart:

First, terminations are safety events. Especially when misconduct, emotional instability, or mental health issues are in play. That means HR involvement, neutral witnesses, security or the police on standby, and a controlled setting. Hoping for the best is not a plan.

Second, control the timing and the exit. Once the decision is made, remove the employee from the workplace as quickly and quietly as possible. Terminations should occur when fewer people are around (ideally at the end of the workday or workweek) to reduce volatility, embarrassment, and the risk of escalation. A calm, efficient exit is a safety measure, not an insult.

Third, don't investigate in silos. Prior complaints, behavioral changes, and multiple investigations must be viewed holistically. Patterns matter. Escalation matters.

Fourth, mental health knowledge changes the calculus. It doesn't bar termination as long as it's not the reason for the termination, but it absolutely heightens the duty of care around how it's handled.

And finally: HR is never optional. If an employee can be fired without HR involved, the process is broken.

Terminations that end in tragedy are the overwhelming exception. But every termination carries risk. The goal isn't to predict the unthinkable—it's to prepare for it. Because when things go wrong, the question is always the same: what did you know, and what did you do with it?

WIRTW #783: the 'Christmas movies' edition

What are the best Christmas movies of all time?

It's a debate as old as Christmas movies themselves. (And yes, this is absolutely the kind of important question a legal blog should tackle.)

Before we can answer this vital question, we first must examine what makes a Christmas movie "great." For the best Christmas movies aren't just holiday wallpaper, they must also check a few key boxes:

✨ They have heart. A good Christmas movie leaves you warmer than it found you.

🎄 They feel like the season. Lights, snow, music, awkward gatherings (families and otherwise). They indulge the full sensory experience.

😂 They make you laugh. Not mean-spirited humor, but that familiar, "yep, that's my family, too" kind of laughter.

❤️ They hit an emotional note. Reconciliation. Joy. Second chances. Belief.

🗣️ They are quotable. "You sit on a throne of lies." "I triple dog dare you!" (Fun fact: I went to Hebrew School with the actor who played Schwartz.) "Yippee-Ki-Yay, Mother…"

♻️ And most importantly: they're rewatchable. A great Christmas movie becomes part of your yearly ritual, and you never tire of the annual viewings.

With these criteria in mind, here's my list of the 5 best Christmas movies of all time, the ones I come back to year after year:

Elf — Pure joy. Will Ferrell at peak earnestness and silliness. A modern classic that earned its place fast.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation — The definitive portrait of holiday chaos. We've all lived some version of this movie.

A Christmas Story — Childhood nostalgia in cinematic form. It's impossible not to see a little of yourself in it.

Die Hard — Yes, it's a Christmas movie. No, I will not be taking questions at this time.

The Muppet Christmas Carol — The best Dickens adaptation ever made, and I'm prepared to die on this hill.

That's my list. Feel free to tell me why I'm wrong, and share your own. 'Tis the season for strong (and good-natured) opinions.

Have you voted yet for the Worst Employer of 2025? 
Cast your vote here.


Here's what I read and listened to this week that you should, too.

Why Jon Hyman's Straightforward Voice Still Cuts Through in Employment Law — via Real Lawyers Have Blogs


SHRM's $11.5 Million Mistake Shows What Happens When HR Isn't Trained — via Improve Your HR by Suzanne Lucas, the Evil HR Lady

The New Tools That Can Improve Workforce Training — via Harvard Business Review


The Trouble with Taprooms — via Beervana

What does a font have to do with an employer's values? Apparently, a lot.

The State Department just ordered diplomats to ditch Calibri and return to Times New Roman as the required typeface in all official communications. Secretary Marco Rubio framed this change not as a typography choice, but as a way to "abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program."

Calibri, however, didn't become the State Department's font because someone wanted to score diversity points. It was chosen because disability and accessibility groups recommended it. Plenty of research shows that sans-serif fonts can be easier to read for people with certain visual impairments. That's not ideology. It's science + usability.

Imagine being so committed to rolling back inclusion that you turn fonts into a culture-war battlefield.

Accessibility is not a political preference. Inclusion is not a luxury. And a workplace that intentionally discards evidence-based accommodations because they're perceived as "woke" is a workplace moving backward.

When leadership signals that accessibility is expendable, employees and stakeholders hear three things loud and clear:
  • Your needs matter only when they're convenient.
  • We'll prioritize symbolism over substance.
  • We're willing to reduce your ability to participate fully if it helps us make a political point.

The real harm is the message, not the font.

Workplaces thrive when people feel seen, supported, and able to contribute. DEIA isn't about creating special treatment or scoring virtue points. It's about identifying barriers—sometimes tiny, sometimes structural—and removing them so everyone has a fair shot at doing their best work.

If we can't even agree that readable text is a good thing, what does that say about our commitment to the harder, more meaningful parts of inclusion

Rolling back DEIA under the guise of "professionalism" doesn't strengthen institutions. It weakens them. And it tells employees—especially those who rely on these accommodations—that their full participation is negotiable.

Leaders have a choice: treat inclusion as noise to be silenced, or treat it as strategy to be strengthened.

Guess which one produces better workplaces, better teams, and better results.

🚨 Vote for the Worst Employer of 2025 🚨

It's the most wonderful time of the year! I've made my list, checked it twice, and now it's time to determine who's been the naughtiest and not very nice. That's right—it's time to vote for The Worst Employer of 2025.

I've narrowed down my list of 12 nominees to the worst seven finalists.

The Finalists


🗳️ The Coercive Cult Leaders — OneTaste used intimidation, debt, and sexual pressure to control members and force unpaid labor

🗳️ The Coprophilic Chief — Chief defecated at work, drugged coffee, exposed himself, stabbed an officer, and then retaliated

🗳️ The Corpse Killer — Organ network tried recovering organs from a living patient, misled families, and buried records

🗳️ The Enslaving Episcopate — Church ran a forced-labor cult, exploiting followers through coercion, abuse, and fraud

🗳️ The Predator Manager — Fast-food manager abused a 16-year-old while the company failed to train, protect, or provide reporting

🗳️ The Sadistic Chef — Sous chef endured daily beatings and trauma while ownership ignored, enabled, and denied the violence

🗳️ The Terrible Trafficker — Tobacco farm stole wages, forced brutal hours, and threatened deportation

As with the last few years, Ranked Choice Voting will determine the winner.

How does Ranked Choice Voting work?


When voting, rank each of the seven finalists in order of awfulness. If one finalist receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, they will be declared the winner. If no finalist achieves a majority of first-choice votes, the counting will proceed in rounds. At the end of each round, the finalist with the fewest votes will be eliminated. If your first-choice finalist is eliminated, your vote will automatically go to the next highest-ranked finalist on your ballot. This process continues until one finalist receives a majority of first-choice votes or only two finalists remain, at which point the finalist with the most votes wins.

Voting Details


Voting closes on Dec. 16 at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time).

Share the ballot with your coworkers, friends, family, and social networks. I'll announce the winner (or loser, depending on your perspective) on Dec. 18.

You can read full descriptions of the seven finalists here.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE


Or scan this QR code to go to the ballot




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