HARASSMENT CLAIMS: $200,000 – $300,000.
NEGLIGENCE/PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS: $50,000 – $75,000.
WATCHING ANDY EAT IT IN THE SAND PIT: Priceless.
It is truly my honor to take over this blog for my good friend, Julie Elgar. She has provided us all with great practical and legal tips over the past year, and we will miss her. Though big shoes to fill, I promise to do the same, and I guarantee that we’ll all have fun. As a former HR professional myself, I understand the importance of humor in the face of our daily challenges.
Well, this week’s episode gives me the opportunity to talk about HR Rule #1: Never offer up your employee’s body for bidding. Michael’s attempt to lure Justin to Dunder Mifflin by letting him know that Pam is the “office hottie” and that she will “do” him given her reputation for dating her co-workers is just not good manners. That aside, it is obviously really bad evidence. A less obvious complication is that Oscar (who Michael referred to as “Oscar Mayer Weiner Lover” in last week’s show) was visibly offended. Though not the target of Michael’s comments at the job fair, Oscar could also bring a harassment claim because he took offense to these sexually-charged comments about Pam. And, Michael’s comment when witnessing Pam and Jim making out in the office is generally not the type of reprimand that we advise employers to give employees for such inappropriate conduct. Instead, “kiss her real good” is more probably another sexually-charged comment that is simply the cherry on top of Pam’s (and possibly others’) harassment claim.
After litigating the dead loser harassment claim or claims, Dunder Mifflin should probably settle all other potential claims for the out-of-office “experiences” that we watched. It is not generally a good idea to let folks like Andy drive a golf cart or let Michael near a ball in a crowd (or anywhere for that matter). Seriously, Dunder Mifflin is probably on the hook for Andy’s fall into the sand pit and the injuries suffered by any unfortunate student that didn’t get out of the way of Michael’s booted ball. And the beers after the last hole (though delicately downed by a straw for some) only add fuel to the fire and money to those claims. Even though they were out of the office, all of these employees were working – whether recruiting at the fair or attempting to develop business. As a result, the company is on the hook.
The only thing offsetting this bad HR day out of The Office is the likely recovery of the money Kevin took from petty cash. But, as you can tell a few hundred bucks is not going to cover this bill.
This post had me in tears and if I can stop laughing long enough I just want to say well done! Thanks for picking up this blog. It’s awesome.
Any guesses as to what the big announcement will be on tonight’s episode?
Could it be that Pam and Jim are getting hitched? Probably too obvious, but that would raise some interesting issues as to spouses working in the same workplace. With this show, it is really hard to tell, but I’m guessing that it will create headaches for us HR folks. Can’t wait for tonight, and will post right after the show!
Thats pretty funny. Last nights show was great.