Remember when I said that being a jerk wasn’t illegal? Well, that may change. According to an article in the L.A. Times, legislatures in New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Washington are considering bills which would give employees the right to seek damages if their employer creates an “abusive work environment.” I’m not really sure what “abusive work environment” will mean, but it looks like these bills may create a cause of action for bad manners.
And, even worse, it appears that there will be no shortage of cases. In an online contest sponsored by the AFL/CIO, employees submitted horror stories about their bosses for the chance of winning an all expense paid trip to Vegas. My personal favorite was the boss who treated his employees to lunch by taking them to a discount warehouse to eat free samples. Another good one was the lawyer who called his office every morning while brushing his teeth and “conducting other business” in the bathroom. But these didn’t win the grand prize. That went to the company who, during a fire, did not allow its help desk employees to immediately evacuate the building. Instead, the company required that the employees leave their desks every five minutes in order of seniority, which resulted in the most junior employees having to remain in a smoldering, smoke-filled office for up to forty-five minutes.
If these “abusive work environment” laws are enacted, Dunder Mifflin is looking at some pretty heavy exposure for Michael’s conduct. Looks like it might be time for the folks at Dunder Mifflin’s corporate office to get their “government affairs” people involved.
When I worked for a large national orangish home improvement chain, one of my job duties in the event of a fire was to go down a hallway (away from the emergency exit), through not one, but two locked doors, to access a special computer that would print an “on premises” report. The time to go from my office to the special computer, print the report, and get to the fire exit? 10-12 minutes. Crazy.