Great Expectations or Paradise Lost? Legal Issues Related to Quiet Quitting and Employer Responses
With COVID-19's upheaval of the workplace and our lives, many employees have reexamined their work/life balance, priorities, expectations and career path. Some have taken advantage of the hot job market and moved on to better positions. Others have decided to stay put but their approach to work may have changed. Some have chosen to downshift and with that only perform the basic duties of their jobs. This phenomenon, first announced on Tik Tok, is referred to as "Quiet Quitting" and it takes on many forms but the most common is an employee no longer going above and beyond in the job. This level of performance is acceptable to some employees. But other employers have responded with efforts to improve employee engagement. Still, other employers have responded with demotion, discipline and termination. This session will review the legal issues presented with a variety of employer responses,
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to detect quiet quitting.
- Hear about various ways in which employers have responded.
- Discuss the legal issues raised with these responses.
James Reidy, Esq.
Attorney James P. (“Jim”) Reidy is a management-side labor and employment lawyer. He is a partner in the New England based law firm, Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green, PA, where he is the Chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment group. His practice focuses on prevention, training and compliance but he also handles matters when claims arise.
He has more than 35 years of experience in the field and been a media resource on workplace law for media outlets including CNN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Business Magazine, Bloomberg, NPR, The Associated Press, NPR Market Place, Buzz Feed, Law 360, Inc. Magazine, The HR Power Hour, HR Breakroom, SKI Magazine and HR Magazine as well as several local/regional publications.
In 2020 Jim was inducted as a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.
Chambers USA and New England Super Lawyers have ranked Jim in the Top Tier of management-side employment lawyers for each year of the last 15 years. Best Lawyers USA named Jim the 2022 Lawyer of the Year for Labor and Employment Law (Manchester, NH) and the NH Business Review named him one of the top 200 most influential business leaders in New Hampshire.
Jim has been a presenter regularly at SHRM’s Legal and Legislative Conference in Washington, DC as well as SHRM’s annual conferences.