Employee Survival Guide®

Mark Carey
  • 5.0 (25)
  • CAREERS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

The Employee Survival Guide® is a podcast only for employees about everything related to work and working. We will share with you all the information your employer and Human Resources does not want you to know about working and guide you through various work and employment law issues. The Employee Survival Guide® podcast is hosted by seasoned Employment Law Attorney Mark Carey, who has only practiced in the area of Employment Law for the past 29 years. Mark has seen just about every type of work dispute there is and has filed several hundred work related lawsuits in state and federal courts around the country, including class action suits. He has a no frills and blunt approach to work issues faced by millions of workers nationwide. Mark endeavors to provide both sides to each and every issue discussed on the podcast so you can make an informed decision.  Again, this is a podcast only for employees.  Subscribe to our show in your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Overcast.  You can also subscribe to our feed via RSS or XML. If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide ® please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts. Thank you! For more information, please contact Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, or email at info@capclaw.com. Also go to our website EmployeeSurvival.com for more helpful information about work and working.  

  1. 5D AGO

    Mark's Podcast For Employees Promise and Special Request

    Comment on the Show by Sending Mark a Text Message. Tired of skipping ads while someone tiptoes around workplace truth? We cut straight to the power dynamics that define your job, explain why “employment at will” keeps bias hidden, and share the practical moves that help you protect income, reputation, and momentum. After nearly three decades in employment law, I’ve watched the same tactics repeat across famous brands and billionaire-led companies—selective layoffs, weaponized performance plans, hush clauses in severance, and policy gray areas that punish anyone without leverage. So I’m putting the playbook on the table, clearly and without sponsors shaping what can be said. This is a podcast for employees. We talk about the dysfunctional parent–child model many employers create and how that robs you of a voice in security and growth. I break down why cause-based termination and real contracts change behavior, and how you can push for fairness even when the system resists it. You’ll hear how to build your own paper trail, turn verbal promises into written commitments, and ask the questions that force transparency around criteria, metrics, and promotion paths. The point isn’t to spark conflict for sport—it’s to give you a calm, proven method to navigate bias, negotiate severance, and avoid traps that trade your rights for vague “opportunities.” This podcast for employees stays raw and ad-free because independence matters. I use AI to speed case analysis where it helps, but the judgment is earned through courtroom scars and settlements with household-name employers. If you want straight answers about discrimination, termination, retaliation, and severance strategy—without euphemisms or corporate spin—you’re in the right place. Listen now to this podcast for employees, share it with a colleague who needs backup, and if it helps, leave a review on Apple or Spotify so more workers can find it. Let’s grow a community that knows the rules and plays to win. If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts. Leaving a review will inform other listeners you found the content on this podcast is important in the area of employment law in the United States. For more information, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, www.capclaw.com. Disclaimer: For educational use only, not intended to be legal advice.

    6 min

  2. DEC 12

    Employees Have No Control Over Their Work; This is Insane

    Comment on the Show by Sending Mark a Text Message. Feeling like your job runs on rules you never agreed to? We dig into the quiet machinery that keeps workers compliant—at-will employment, sweeping NDAs, non-compete clauses, and forced arbitration—and break down how those tools shape behavior long before anyone files a complaint. Instead of shrugging and moving on, we map clear steps for turning isolated frustration into collective leverage that actually changes outcomes. We look at why movements flare up and fade, how employers centralize power while decentralizing workers, and what that means for transparency and due process. Along the way, we share practical ways to lower personal risk: sharing lawful pay information, documenting issues with care, setting up trust-first peer groups, and identifying small, specific demands that build momentum. We also talk through the legal landscape—where non-competes are weakening, what arbitration clauses do and don’t block, and how internal norms can evolve toward just-cause practices even in at-will environments. The goal isn’t chaos. It’s informed consent, dignity, and a stake in the rules you live under. If you’ve felt stuck between bad choices—stay silent or go nuclear—this conversation offers a third path: coordinated, lawful, and strategic action that starts small and compounds. Listen, share it with a coworker you trust, and then take one step together. If this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and tell us the first change you want to push for at work. If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts. Leaving a review will inform other listeners you found the content on this podcast is important in the area of employment law in the United States. For more information, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, www.capclaw.com. Disclaimer: For educational use only, not intended to be legal advice.

    3 min

  3. DEC 2

    Top 10 Job Survival Skills

    Comment on the Show by Sending Mark a Text Message. Ever feel like everyone else got the manual for office politics and you’re improvising in a storm? We unpack a practical survival playbook to protect your job, build leverage, and navigate messy power dynamics without losing your edge or your voice. The theme is simple: awareness plus preparation beats fear. We start by sharpening situational awareness—how to watch your back, read tells, and set boundaries so you spot risks early. Then we break down the real rules of engagement: what discrimination and retaliation look like, how non‑competes and wage issues show up, and why vocabulary matters when you talk to HR. From there, we go deep on negotiation as a career engine, not a last resort. You’ll learn how to prepare your asks, map counterpart incentives, and negotiate even in at‑will roles by trading clarity, scope, and protection for performance and accountability. Documentation becomes your quiet superpower. We show you how to turn emails and journals into a timeline that anchors your narrative when stakes rise. You’ll also learn to play the room—holding composure, asking pointed questions, and avoiding traps that push you into reactive mode. We draw a hard line between self‑advocacy and whining, and we explain why service to others quietly compounds your influence over time. Finally, we demystify severance negotiations: ERISA plans, contractual rights, and leverage built from a fact‑based story that employers can’t ignore. We close by reframing your mindset: think like a boss, manage risk like an owner, and carry yourself like the next leader. If you’re ready to trade fear for skills—spot issues faster, document smarter, negotiate stronger, and lead yourself with calm—this one is your toolkit. Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs a backbone boost, and leave a review with the one skill you’ll practice this week. If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts. Leaving a review will inform other listeners you found the content on this podcast is important in the area of employment law in the United States. For more information, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, www.capclaw.com. Disclaimer: For educational use only, not intended to be legal advice.

    24 min

  4. NOV 27

    Walsh v. Fitch Solutions: When Culture Collides With Disability Rights

    Comment on the Show by Sending Mark a Text Message. This episode is part of my initiative to provide access to important court decisions  impacting employees in an easy to understand conversational format using AI.  The speakers in the episode are AI generated and frankly sound great to listen to.  Enjoy! A top performer with a life-threatening migraine condition built a 15-year career, earned awards, and worked remotely with a documented accommodation—until a post-merger culture shift demanded office presence and everything changed. We walk you through the allegation-filled timeline: the hot leads routed to younger men in the New York office, the confrontation that preceded a stroke doctors tied to job stress, and the series of decisions that, the complaint says, turned a medical safeguard into a career liability. We dig into the mechanics of discrimination and retaliation claims: how account assignments can become tools of pretext, why a disputed Citadel loss matters years later, and what it means when a PIP leans on contested narratives despite recent high performance. You’ll hear how the continuing violations doctrine can bridge older incidents into a timely hostile environment claim, and why plausibility at the motion-to-dismiss stage hinges on a minimal inference—not courtroom proof. The distinction between granting an ADA accommodation and honoring it in practice sits at the core: resources withheld for remote staff, an ultimatum to attend training in person despite written permission, and the message that office presence equals opportunity. We also examine leadership statements that allegedly acknowledged past bias, rapid promotions for younger male colleagues, and the juxtaposition of a 2023 sales excellence award with a 2024 PIP. The legal stakes are high: timeliness defenses, comparator debates, and whether penalizing a stroke survivor’s accommodation can be seen as extreme and outrageous conduct. Ultimately, we ask a broader question many workplaces face now: when office-first culture collides with health, is performance enough to protect an employee whose life depends on remote work? If this deep dive helped you see the issues more clearly, follow the show, share this episode with a colleague, and leave a quick review telling us where you stand on accommodations versus culture. Your take might shape a future mailbag. If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts. Leaving a review will inform other listeners you found the content on this podcast is important in the area of employment law in the United States. For more information, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, www.capclaw.com. Disclaimer: For educational use only, not intended to be legal advice.

    29 min

  5. NOV 27

    Remote Work On Trial: Russo v. National Grid $3.1 Verdict 2025

    Comment on the Show by Sending Mark a Text Message. This episode is part of my initiative to provide access to important court decisions  impacting employees in an easy to understand conversational format using AI.  The speakers in the episode are AI generated and frankly sound great to listen to.  Enjoy! Public safety, disability rights, and remote work collide in a courtroom story with real‑world consequences. We walk through how two veteran gas dispatchers, armed with a two‑year record of high performance from home, challenged a return‑to‑office mandate—and won a sweeping jury verdict that included $2 million in punitive damages. We start with the nuts and bolts: what dispatchers actually do, why their work is safety critical yet desk‑based, and how secure laptops and telephony kept operations running during lockdown. From there, we trace the pivot: accommodations granted, then revoked; medical department approvals clashing with labor threats; and the extraordinary step of cutting off paid sick leave while approving FMLA. The defense centered on public safety, citing catastrophic explosions and onsite backups, but the plaintiffs countered with hard numbers, overtime logs, and a key question: if home connectivity was truly life‑or‑death, why were no safeguards required during two years of remote operations? We unpack the legal thresholds under the ADA and New York State law, then show how the New York City Human Rights Law flips the burden, forcing employers to prove an accommodation won’t work or creates undue hardship. The judge sent the case to a jury, finding genuine disputes over what counts as an essential function for a dispatcher. The verdict? A decisive rejection of the “office presence is essential” defense, substantial back pay and emotional distress awards, and punitive damages signaling reckless disregard for rights. The takeaway is practical and profound: documented remote success now sets the benchmark, and employers must bring specific, quantifiable evidence—not speculative risk—to deny accommodations. If you care about modern workplace law, unionized environments, or how post‑pandemic facts are rewriting “essential functions,” this deep dive offers a clear playbook and cautionary tale. Follow the show, share this episode with a colleague who handles HR or compliance, and leave a review to help others find these conversations. If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts. Leaving a review will inform other listeners you found the content on this podcast is important in the area of employment law in the United States. For more information, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, www.capclaw.com. Disclaimer: For educational use only, not intended to be legal advice.

    32 min

  6. NOV 26

    Five Years After Remote Work Reckoning

    Comment on the Show by Sending Mark a Text Message. What happens when the biggest workplace experiment in modern history becomes admissible evidence? Five years after COVID reshaped how we work, we take a clear-eyed look at remote work’s legacy—what it proved, who it protected, and why some employers are trying to forget the results. We trace the arc from lifeline to legal battleground, exposing how rigid return-to-office policies are pushing out the very people who kept companies alive: disabled workers, pregnant employees, caregivers, and older staff who thrived with reasonable flexibility. We dig into the details behind the headlines, from constructive discharge tactics and moving performance goalposts to the tech-driven surveillance that quietly captured mountains of unpaid labor. Along the way, we unpack real cases, including a federal jury award tied to remote feasibility and disability rights, and a new Manhattan complaint alleging revoked flexibility and weaponized metrics. The throughline is simple: when the work got done from home—consistently and measurably—that record matters. Blanket policies that ignore it aren’t just shortsighted; they carry legal risk. Beyond the courtrooms, we talk about what ethical, effective design looks like now. Location should map to duties and outcomes, not vibes or nostalgia. Feasibility analyses, transparent criteria, and outcome-based metrics create clarity for teams while honoring the realities of health, parenting, and aging. Remote work is not a luxury for many; it is the difference between employment and exit, stability and crisis. If the experiment proved anything, it is that millions delivered under extraordinary strain—and that proof deserves respect. If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs the receipts, and leave a rating or review so more people can find it. Your stories shape where we take this next—what’s your reality with remote, hybrid, or RTO? If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts. Leaving a review will inform other listeners you found the content on this podcast is important in the area of employment law in the United States. For more information, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, www.capclaw.com. Disclaimer: For educational use only, not intended to be legal advice.

    8 min

  7. NOV 24

    Employnomics Is Everything Employers Do to Employees Everyday

    Comment on the Show by Sending Mark a Text Message. The rules at work often feel invisible until they hit you in the paycheck, the bathroom break you can’t take, or the termination you didn’t see coming. We put a name to that operating system—employonomics—and trace how it quietly moves power, money, and risk from employees to employers through legal frameworks and everyday practices that look neutral but bite hard. We unpack how discrimination becomes profitable when arbitration buries public scrutiny, how noncompete agreements suppress wages and stall careers, and why wage theft thrives through misclassification and “exempt” titles that don’t match the job. We go inside the mechanics of performance improvement plans that prepare the legal runway more than they coach, and we interrogate return-to-office pushes that serve leases over outcomes. Along the way, we connect the dots between vague HR feedback, algorithmic quotas that shrink basic dignity on the warehouse floor, and the keystone that holds it all together: at-will employment, a rule that converts managerial preference into a shield and shifts the burden to workers to prove the unprovable. There’s a different path. We spotlight for-cause termination as a credible alternative that builds trust, show how Montana’s model changes the incentives without freezing management, and outline practical ways organizations can trade secrecy for standards—dropping noncompetes, paying for every hour worked, and giving real due process in performance decisions. When policies stop hiding harm and start honoring fairness, engagement improves, talent sticks, and culture becomes more than a poster in the lobby. If you want a workplace that rewards merit without erasing humanity, press play, share this with someone stuck under “policy,” and add your voice. Subscribe for more straight talk on work, leave a review to boost the signal, and tell us: which policy should be the first to go? If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts. Leaving a review will inform other listeners you found the content on this podcast is important in the area of employment law in the United States. For more information, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, www.capclaw.com. Disclaimer: For educational use only, not intended to be legal advice.

    5 min

  8. NOV 21

    You May Be Protected and Not Know It: Understanding Disability Rights in the Workplace

    Comment on the Show by Sending Mark a Text Message. Think your medical condition or disability doesn’t “count” because it isn’t visible or permanent? That assumption costs careers. We dig into how disability rights actually work on the ground, why silence helps employers more than employees, and the simple forms of “notice” that trigger your legal protections. From anxiety and migraines to Crohn’s, postpartum depression, and recovery from surgery, the coverage is broader than most people think—and the bar for “substantially limits” is intentionally low. We walk through the ADA’s three-part definition of disability, highlight how major life activities include concentration, communication, and working, and explain why timing often exposes retaliation. You’ll hear practical language you can use with a manager or HR, how to document requests and meetings, and what a good faith interactive process looks like when it’s done right. We also share a free resource—the Job Accommodation Network at askjan.org—that can join the conversation and help identify workable accommodations like flexible schedules, remote options, adjusted metrics, or short-term leave. Real-world patterns matter: denials without analysis, discipline after medical leave, and “regarded as” mistakes can all expose employers to liability. We unpack court trends that favor inclusion, including protections for temporary and episodic conditions and mental health. If you’ve been pushing through symptoms and blaming yourself for “performance,” it’s time to flip the script. Accommodations are rights, not favors, and early, clear communication can protect both your health and your job. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a colleague who needs it, and leave a review to help more workers find the support they deserve. If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts. Leaving a review will inform other listeners you found the content on this podcast is important in the area of employment law in the United States. For more information, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, www.capclaw.com. Disclaimer: For educational use only, not intended to be legal advice.

    18 min
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5
out of 5
25 Ratings

About

The Employee Survival Guide® is a podcast only for employees about everything related to work and working. We will share with you all the information your employer and Human Resources does not want you to know about working and guide you through various work and employment law issues. The Employee Survival Guide® podcast is hosted by seasoned Employment Law Attorney Mark Carey, who has only practiced in the area of Employment Law for the past 29 years. Mark has seen just about every type of work dispute there is and has filed several hundred work related lawsuits in state and federal courts around the country, including class action suits. He has a no frills and blunt approach to work issues faced by millions of workers nationwide. Mark endeavors to provide both sides to each and every issue discussed on the podcast so you can make an informed decision.  Again, this is a podcast only for employees.  Subscribe to our show in your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Overcast.  You can also subscribe to our feed via RSS or XML. If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide ® please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts. Thank you! For more information, please contact Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, or email at info@capclaw.com. Also go to our website EmployeeSurvival.com for more helpful information about work and working.  

Information

  • Creator
    Mark Carey
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    153
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Employee Survival Guide®
  • Show Website
    Employee Survival Guide®

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