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Litigation Value: Training on Diversity and Harassment = $5,000; Settlement of Countless Employee Claims = a Shocking Amount; Years Worth of “That’s What She Said” Jokes = Priceless. With Michael’s final season quickly approaching, last night’s repeat got me thinking about all my favorite Michael moments over the seasons. While Michael can be a human resources […]
NBC trotted out a repeat — St. Patrick’s Day — last night. My colleague, Jaclyn West, wrote an excellent piece focusing on work-life balance when the episode originally aired back in March. Jaclyn’s post made me think about potential wage-hour issues that arise when employers demand long work days. It’s no secret that wage-hour litigation is a […]
Litigation Value: No liability (or sales leads) “per se.” However, the seeds of workplace discord have been planted, leaving open the possibility that they will take root and blossom into future legal problems. Sales personnel are lording it over their non-sales counterparts; protégés are maligning their once-valued mentors; and even the simple act of borrowing […]
Litigation Value: $2,500 for Meredith’s workers’ comp claim (those paper cuts can sting!) and more grist for the mill for potential future claims. Tonight’s episode has the Scranton office continuing to deal with Dunder Mifflin’s acquisition by Sabre International. This time, it is the arrival of Sabre’s colorful president, Jo Bennett, and her two rather […]
Litigation Value: de minimus damage award (after spending $50,000 to “successfully” defend the lawsuit) He rarely disappoints, and this week was no different. Michael Scott was in rare form in this week’s issue of The Office, “The Lover” (or should this episode have been titled “The Mother Lover” for all you SNL fans). Michael revealed […]
This week’s episode — “The Promotion” — had nothing to do with advancement in the workplace. In fact, the only thing it promoted was how to get fired. When the episode ended, I identified five Scranton employees whom David Wallace should discharge if he wants to minimize potential liability: Dwight. He opened the episode fantasizing about placing Jim […]
LITIGATION VALUE: $50,000 (in litigation costs on Darryl’s claims); damages continuing to pile up on Oscar’s claims. In tonight’s episode, “The Meeting,” we watched as Michael interfered with Jim’s attempt to obtain a promotion and falsified documents in Jim’s personnel file (clearly a problem, but not the most interesting problem in this episode). We also watched […]
In the rerun episode of “Company Picnic,” Season 5’s finale, we saw the Dunder Mifflinites don branch t-shirts and head out for a day of friendly competition, team-building and — because this is Dunder Mifflin we’re dealing with — potential disaster. We already discussed the noteworthy events, such as Michael announcing the closing of the Buffalo branch to […]
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 […]
Thank goodness for small favors! With The Office on summer break, we didn’t have to face Thursday night with trepidation, fearing that Michael would, in his affable way, fling impertinent comments about the Iranian election crisis around for all to hear. We are probably not the only ones breathing a sigh of relief either. After […]