Phyllis vs. The Wolf

Litigation Value: $2,000 for intentional infliction of emotional distress (caused by seeing Al Roker dance a jig before the commercial break)

Watching the cast of The Office take on a group of American Gladiators in Celebrity Family Feud was just too great an opportunity for me to pass up last night. I was happy to see our friends from Scranton win it all, especially since it involved seeing Phyllis challenge The Wolf to an arm wrestle. Unfortunately it was broken up before a winner was determined, which is too bad because I think it could have gone either way.

I noticed a whole lot of muscle flexing and other intimidating behaviors going on during last night’s show, especially from the Gladiator side. As I watched Titan jiggle his quads, I was reminded of the proverbial schoolyard bully, scaring kids into handing over their lunch money. Thankfully those days are over for most working adults. But while you
might think that it is not a problem, workplace bullying is a real phenomenon, and it can create some problems for your company.

Typical workplace bullying includes acts such as spreading rumors, making unreasonable demands on a person, excessive or harsh criticism, insults, and yelling. Employers should be on the lookout for these types of behaviors, and should investigate any allegations of bullying that arise. This is especially important when the target is a member of a protected class (such as a female, an ethnic minority, or a person from a foreign country). But even if the behavior is fairly innocuous and doesn’t seem to implicate any harassment laws, an unhappy employee is more likely to find a reason to sue his employer.

So the next HR hears about one of your fork-lift operators giving an IT employee a wedgie,  find a way to administer some discipline and restore the victim’s dignity (maybe offer to buy him a new pair of briefs . . . just kidding, don’t really do that).