Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
A blog by the attorneys at the law firm of Ford & Harrison about the popular television series “The Office.” Each article takes a look at a different episode, and summarizes the employment law lessons for the week.
Series Litigation Value: various harassment, discrimination, and bizarre workers’ compensation matters = astronomical; future employment matters due to Dwight taking over as Regional Manager = enough to keep Dunder Mifflin’s attorneys busy for many years to come; seeing the older, hopefully wiser, family man version of Michael in the final episode = priceless. After years […]
Litigation Value: Bless your heart if you’re still keeping track at this point. This blog has always focused on bad behavior. We tease out employment law issues by writing about the characters who do things in the workplace that one simply does not do. So last night’s series finale of the The Office poses quite […]
Litigation Value: Office romance with the new Regional Manager (and A.A.R.M.) = fodder for a potential sexual harassment claim; eliminating nonsense from the workplace = every human resources manager’s dream; Dwight giving up a milk maid to marry his long-time love and father his beet-loving offspring = priceless. As John Krasinski explained in a recent […]
Litigation Value: None. I think The Office gods have been reading my blog entries and decided they’d give me an hour-long episode with very few legal issues. In last night’s episode, three main characters made significant career moves. Dwight received the manager promotion, Andy quit his job to pursue fame, and Jim decided to stay […]
Litigation Value: Aside from a potential workers’ compensation claim for Toby, from having a paper airplane thrown directly into his eye, Dunder Mifflin is getting off light this week. This week, we all got to relax a bit, as the Dunder Mifflin employees let their hair down and their competitive beasts out and took part […]
Litigation Value: Possible workers’ comp claim for Dwight for injuries sustained in trying to cross a “flaccid cord”; groundwork established for a breach of contract suit by Nellie if Andy follows through on his intent to fire her Tonight’s “previously aired” episode takes us back to the first episode of this, the last season of […]
Litigation value: Stanley can sue Dwight blind for his bull dart assault. This is an employment law blog. So when tonight’s episode opened, and I saw that Dwight had shut down the building’s elevator for repair, leaving the stairwell as the only option to reach Dunder Mifflin’s offices, I thought it might be interesting to […]
Litigation Value: Unknown Last night’s episode of The Office gave the characters their first glimpse into their upcoming documentary. Surprisingly, this seems to be the first time any of them contemplated that the world (literally) will be able to see their personal and professional antics that have entertained all of us for the past 10 […]
Litigation Value: Michael’s Antics over the Years = Too Many Zeros to Count; Collateral Damage from the Dwight/Jim Feud over the Years = Some Unfortunate Workers’ Compensation Claims; Getting a Super-Sized Finale = Priceless. Given that my esteemed colleague, Jaclyn, has addressed the Moving On episode twice now, I thought I would focus on our upcoming finale. […]
Litigation Value: Nothing for Pam, but I’m sure the Philly real estate employees have plenty of gripes. Last night’s episode of “The Office” was a repeat of “Move On: Part I,” which we covered in our post “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.” There were plenty of shenanigans in Scranton during that episode, so we […]