What led to the $11.5 million dollar verdict against SHRM

By now, you’ve probably heard all about the $11.5 million jury verdict in SHRM’s racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuit (Mohamed v. Society for Human Resource Management, D. Colo. No. 1:22-cv-01625-GPG-KAS). And if you haven’t heard about the verdict, just go search on LinkedIn and you’ll see a zillion takes.

But we try to bring a unique perspective. So, many (many!) hours and dollars spent on legal filings and transcripts later, we’re bringing you the behind the scenes. Listen to the episode to hear:

• Who showed up as a witness at trial (that truly shocked us!)

• What the attorneys argued about that’s very relatable to us all

• The questions the jury asked while deliberating, and more.

We also talk about what’s next - for the lawsuit (Ashley chimes in) and for SHRM generally (hear Jamie’s take).

Happy Holidays!

While it’s probably not the merriest season over at SHRM’s offices (although they issued this (very direct) statement and their CEO called the verdict a “blip” in a video to employees), we’re also including some of our holiday wishes - and holiday party do’s and don’ts. (And writing this of course led us to search and find this).

Our Holiday PTO - Where to Find Us

2025 has been a year we’re extremely grateful for. While the last few weeks of the HR Besties have been pretty focused on SHRM, we’ve covered all sorts of topics this year, from layoffs (something we’d love less of in 2026), to AI (because it’s illegal not to) to the true power of having Work Besties.

As we take our break between seasons, we’ll be hopefully having some pleasure, but also mixing in a lot of business in. We’d love you to keep up with us, and support us!

• Jamie (whose birthday was yesterday!) has great social media accounts, from HR humor to millennial nostalgia. She’s hilarious - and keeps it real. She’s popular for speaking events at companies and conferences (see here), and explore social media partnerships and her merch here. https://humorousmiserymedia.site/
  

• Leigh (whose birthday is next week!) is heads-down writing her new book coming out in early 2027. Get on her list for pre-orders here and she’s still booking some social media partnerships as well as conference talks and appearances. Reach out to her here. The Besties can attest, she draws a crowd!
  

• Ashley (whose birthday is not this month because she’s the elder ageless) is leading her manager training business (including her popular Manager 101 package), with cool new tools coming out in 2026. Check out her site - and pre-order her book The Manager Method (coming out on February 10th!).

Discussion Guide (For Your Team Meeting or Podcast Listening Club)

• What’s a lesson from the SHRM verdict that impacts how we think about accountability at any organization (not just SHRM as a best practices HR organization)?

• What’s something you noticed a teammate do this year that they might have no idea made a difference?

• What should our team’s “year-end superlative” be?

• How can leaders use year end to rebuild or strengthen trust, especially after a year where a lot of workplaces faced tough headlines or internal challenges?

ChatGPT Prompts of the Week

Professional

• Explain the SHRM verdict in three different ways for those who may hear about it but don’t understand why it matters for workplace trust.

• Help me write a message to leaders who haven’t bought in to the need for a fully-staffed HR team and training for managers and teams on how the SHRM $11.5 million verdict is an example of why it’s so needed.

Personal(ish)

• Help me create a year-end ritual to actually close out the year - something simple that helps me reflect on 1) what I accomplished, 2) what surprised me and 3) what I want to leave behind.

Thank you for listening and sharing our podcast, and for showing up with your stories, questions and sense of humor every week. We’re grateful for this community and everything you each do (no matter your role) to make workplaces better. We can’t wait to see you in the new year.

And for those still reading, scroll to the bottom for the snippet of the SHRM lawsuit that surprised us the most. We certainly didn’t expect that!

XOXO,
Jamie, Leigh & Ashley

Let us know what you took away from this year - from the SHRM trial, to Jamie’s layoff story, to everything in between:

From SHRM’s lawyer who asked the judge in October 2025 for a gag order in the podcast. (And for the record, we were not “talking to plaintiff’s counsel” - we emailed the exact question to plaintiff’s counsel and this very lawyer for SHRM: politely asking whether the case had settled at the scheduled mediation or was proceeding to trial (and we all know what happened)). And now you can get Jamie’s “Troubling” merch here.

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