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.
LITIGATION VALUE: $150,000 I empathize with Michael. There is nothing worse than the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize that you just accidentally forwarded that witty e-mail (which you worked on all morning) mocking your boss’s bad suits and strange habits to your boss, herself, rather than to your clever […]
Litigation Value: $40,000 Duty calls and Julie is not able to blog this week due to work. I’m a fellow labor and employment attorney with Ford & Harrison and also a fan of the show. This week’s episode certainly did not disappoint. The episode starts with the Dunder Mifflin employees gathered around for a “safety […]
Litigation Value: $350,000 Phew – finally a new episode! While any episode of The Office is a good one, it’s nice to have new material to discuss. As always, the gang at Dunder Mifflin did not disappoint with this week’s super-sized episode. Employers who fail to fire employees who tape pepper spray canisters, nunchucks, and […]
Last night’s five episode marathon of The Office was an HR executive’s nightmare! Below, I’ve blogged about the litigation value of each of the five episodes separately — four of which are entirely new entries as the episodes were from previous seasons. While they aired as individual episodes, if these incidents were to occur in […]
Litigation Value $450,000 Overall, I’d say that Oscar has a good (read expensive) claim for sexual orientation discrimination and retaliation. Not only does Michael admittedly refer to employees as “faggy” when he means “lame,” but he specifically refers to Oscar, a gay employee, as “faggy.” Then, after Toby confidentially tells Michael that Oscar is gay, […]
Litigation Value $ 30,000 (or if Dwight’s injuries are permanent, then $500,000) I don’t know whether a concussion suffered when rushing off to “save” your boss after he burns his foot on a George Foreman grill would be considered a workers’ compensation injury, but if it is, Dunder Mifflin (or, more accurately, their insurance carrier) […]
LITIGATION VALUE: Over $700,000 It would be pretty safe to say that any time a company’s regional manager asks a female employee to act out a lesbian love scene during its anti-harassment training you have problems. Expensive problems. Not only does the company face liability for Michael’s actions in contributing to the hostile working environment […]
Litigation Value: $500,000 If I were Kevin, I would start daydreaming about how to spend the windfall I will receive from the litigation lottery. Off the cuff, I’d guess that he has a great claim for damages after being forced to publicly disclose that he has anal fissures – especially if Dunder Mifflin later takes […]
LITIGATION VALUE: $800,000 If I represented Kelly, I think my opening statement would say something like this: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here today because Kelly Kapoor’s right to work in an environment free of discrimination was violated when her boss, Michael Scott, repeatedly made negative comments about her heritage culminating in an […]
LITIGATION VALUE: The jury is still out . . . NBC will not be airing an episode tonight but be sure to check back next week when NBC will show five episodes containing the most egregious workplace violations imaginable. Toby, our own HR Hero, will be hosting the fun-filled evening. I don’t want to spoil […]