Advertise on podcast: Workplace Wake-Up with Jen Shaw

Most employment disputes don’t begin with a dramatic event. They start with warning signs employees see but fail to address: the high-performing supervisor everyone fears, complaints that receive superficial attention, inconsistent discipline, and HR recommendations that don’t result in action. Jen shares practical ways to recognize those patterns, investigate concerns appropriately, and intervene before small management failures become expensive workplace problems. Plus, Jen offers a simple exercise to identify the on issue your organization has been putting off.

Assume every workplace conversation can become evidence. Employees have recording devices in their pockets, AI meeting assistants automatically generate transcripts, screenshots preserve messages people thought would disappear, and workplace investigations increasingly arrive with audio files, texts, Slack messages, Teams chats, and social-media posts attached. In this episode, Jen looks at what employers should—and should not—do in a workplace where almost nothing is truly off the record.

Workplace violence usually does not begin with someone announcing an intention to hurt another employee. It may start with angry messages, repeated unwanted contact, escalating personal conflict, obsessive behavior, stalking, domestic violence spilling into the workplace, or a former employee who refuses to move on. The hardest question for HR is often not whether the conduct is inappropriate. It is knowing when ordinary workplace conflict has crossed the line into a genuine safety concern. In this episode, Jen walks through the warning signs employers should take seriously, how to investigate escalating conduct, and when HR needs to involve security, law enforcement, or the courts.

The federal enforcement landscape has shifted. In June 2026, the EEOC adopted a new National Enforcement Plan emphasizing merit-based, evenhanded enforcement of federal employment discrimination laws. For California employers, the challenge is not simply understanding what the EEOC is emphasizing. It is determining whether recruiting practices, DEI initiatives, religious accommodation procedures, and internal messaging still make sense in the current enforcement environment—while continuing to comply with California law. In this episode, Jen breaks down what has changed, what has not, and what employers should review now without overcorrecting.

California has drawn a new line in workplace AI. On September 30, 2026, Governor Newsom signed SB 947, which prohibits employers from relying solely on artificial intelligence when making disciplinary or termination decisions and requires additional transparency when AI causes a mass layoff, relocation, or termination. That makes AI much more than a technology issue—it is now a direct HR compliance issue. In this episode, Jen explains California’s new “no robo-bosses” approach, what meaningful human involvement should look like, and why employers need to know exactly where AI is already influencing employment decisions.

A former employee sends an email demanding “my entire personnel file and every document you have about me.” Does the employer really have to turn over everything? Usually not. IN this episode, Jen explains what California employees are entitled to receive, why different categories of records have different rules and deadlines, and what employers should think about before simply hitting “send.”

Attendance should be simple: employees are supposed to come to work. But sometimes the reason they are not at work implicates sick leave, disability accommodation, family leave, pregnancy protections, workers’ compensation, or another protected right. In this episode, Jen explains how employers can enforce legitimate attendance expectations without turning an ordinary attendance problem into a legal claim.

Nearly everyone has a recording device in their pocket, and employees are increasingly using them in meetings, investigations, performance discussions, and conversations with supervisors. In this episode, Jen breaks down California’s rules on workplace recordings, when a secret recording may be illegal, when discipline may create its own legal problems, and why a company’s “no recording” rule does not necessarily end the analysis.

Copying a lawyer on an email does not magically make it privileged. Neither does writing “Attorney-Client Privileged” at the top. In this episode, Joe Beachboard and Jen break down what attorney-client privilege really protects, when it applies in the workplace, how employers accidentally waive it, and why seemingly harmless emails can become Exhibit A in litigation.

Employment law can get complicated fast, but most workplace problems come back to a handful of basic rules. In this episode, Jen goes back to the fundamentals every California employer should understand—from wage and hour and discrimination to leaves, accommodations, documentation, and termination. Think of it as Employment Law 101: the things employers really need to know in 15 minutes.

In this episode, Jen walks through a quick employment law checkup every California employer should take. Listeners will learn five questions that can reveal common compliance gaps and how EmployersLawyer can help organizations stay current, spot problems earlier, and make better workplace decisions before small issues become expensive ones.

In this episode, Jen and Joe take stock of the employment law developments shaping California workplaces halfway through 2026. They highlight important new cases, regulatory developments, and emerging compliance issues, and explain what employers should be watching and doing now as they head into the second half of the year.

In this episode, Jen explores why the real challenge for California employers is not finding more employment law information—it is knowing what matters and what to do with it. Listeners will learn how to cut through the noise, identify developments that require action, and use EmployersLawyer to turn employment law updates into practical workplace decisions.

In this episode, Jen and Shaw Law Group attorney Dilpreet Mayall discuss the labor relations fundamentals that every new professional should learn—and experienced practitioners should never overlook. They explain why the National Labor Relations Act matters even in non-union workplaces, discuss the importance of recognizing protected concerted activity, and share practical guidance on documentation, contract administration, front-line leader training, and maintaining productive relationships with union representatives. Throughout the discussion, they highlight common mistakes that create unnecessary legal risk and offer practical strategies employers can implement right away.

In this episode, Jen explains why good documentation is one of an employer's most valuable risk management tools. She discusses why otherwise defensible employment decisions can unravel because of poor documentation, shares practical tips for creating clear and credible records, and highlights the common documentation mistakes that create unnecessary legal exposure.