It’s easy to make predictions about the future.

It’s far harder to look back at them and see if you were right.  Fortunately or unfortunately for me, my predictions are in print — there for a looking.

So how did my prediction go for 2011?

Well, in my main article, I predicted that on a national-level, there wouldn’t be much, if any, legislation to think about:

As the new year begins, there’s a tendency to try to predict what the new year will bring. Indeed, while catching up on some posts, I’ve been struck by the hysterical tone that some are using to scare employers into believing the entire employment law world is going to be turned upside down in 2011.

I’m here to tell you one simple thing:   It won’t.

Yes, some of the federal agencies are going to roll out some new rules. But let’s be honest — these types of changes always happen. With a Republican-controlled House of Representatives, it is unlikely (though not impossible) that we’re going to see any significant legislation coming out of Congress that will impact employers in any meaningful way.

What we are going to see is more of the same. More enforcement of existing rules. More efforts by the government to ensure compliance.

Not too bad at all.  In fact, there were no new employment laws to speak of, only actions by both the DOL and the NLRB to enforce (and some would say, expand) existing laws.

And on a local level? Well, after the election of Governor Malloy, I had one big prediction: Mandatory Paid Sick Leave.   By now, we all know how that turned out.   I also indicated that gender identity anti-discrimination and workplace bullying would also receive a lot of attention and sure enough, that proved correct as well.

Of course, there were plenty of other developments as well, including some notable U.S. Supreme Court cases and unexpected changes to the CHRO process.  So, while I was far from perfect in predicting all of the things to consider, I can look back at the predictions for this year with a bit of a smile.

And what will 2012 bring? Well, I’ve drafted an entire piece for the Connecticut Law Tribune that should appear next week.  But here’s one sneak peek at my prediction: We will likely see the one of the most significant free-speech-in-the-workplace decisions come out of the Connecticut Supreme Court by mid-2012.

So stay tuned.