On last night’s rerun episode, Lecture Circuit, Michael, whose office had the highest sales, traveled to other Dunder Mifflin offices to share his “secret recipe for success.” Along the way, Michael manages to offend every single woman he meets.
Poor Pam is the is the main target of Michael’s harassment. He asks her to take her shirt off or tie her sweater around her waist, calls her his hot roadie, tells her to picture Karen naked, and talks to her about Holly’s breasts. Leaving no woman behind, Michael makes several inappropriate comments about Karen’s pregnancy (which we discussed last time the episode aired) and uses “sugarboobs” as a mnemonic device to remember the name of a woman in his audience.
For those who went to the Michael Scott School of Management: sexual harassment is against the law. The women subjected to Michael’s behavior could have a claim for sexual harassment if his conduct was found to be unwelcome, of a sexual nature, and severe or pervasive. There is no doubt that a vast majority of Michael’s comments were of a sexual nature, and it doesn’t appear that they were at all welcome. But what happened in this episode alone probably doesn’t rise to the level of severe or pervasive. When comments are the only form of harassment, it takes many comments over a period of time to meet the “severe or pervasive” threshold. However, knowing Michael, it won’t take too long. Undoubtedly, within the next several episodes, someone will have a viable claim for sexual harassment!
I think cutting the sleeve off your ex-lover’s sweater is probably good for a stalking charge, although Holly would probably never put two and two together on that.