The Office: Weekly Analysis and Contest
In my humble opinion, NBC’s The Office is the world’s #1 employment law training aid. All you have to do is (1) watch it and (2) do the exact opposite of everything you see.
To help enhance your viewing experience, each week I provide a critique of the action from an employment lawyer’s perspective.
Last Night’s Episode: “Casual Fridays.”
The Plot: Trouble brews in the office when several employees take the term “casual” too loosely.
My Analysis:
- Issue: Destruction of Company Property (and, Potentially, Co-workers’ Colons)
Description: Kevin dumped a vat of his homemade “famous chili” on the office carpet. To make matters worse, he scooped most of it back into the container and (presumably) served it to his co-workers.
Risk: $$$ - Issue: Dress Code Nightmare
Description: New HR professionals should watch this episode over and over to learn how NOT to enforce a dress code. The company should be prepared for a flood of emotional distress claims from all who were forced to witness the various nauseating displays of “casualness.” Meredith should be fired for workplace nudity. Most of all, Toby the HR Rep should be fired for gross incompetence.
Risk: $$$$$ - Issue: Favoritism
Description: Michael showed extreme favoritism toward Pam and Ryan (the only two employees foolish enough to join Michael when he left to form a new company), leading to possible discrimination claims from other employees.
Risk: $$$$ - Issue: Inappropriate Comments
Description: The causal attire sparked numerous inappropriate comments related to gender, sex and national origin. HR and management did nothing to stop ‘em.
Risk: $$$$ - Issue: Invisible Ink
Description: Dwight used urine as “invisible ink” to write a secret message to certain co-workers. He also placed some in Ryan’s mug. Now is not the time for companies to tolerate such rampant germ-spreading. Dwight should be fired.
Risk: $$$$$ - Issue: Workplace Violence
Description: Dwight proposed to take Michael, Pam and Ryan hostage to protest Michael’s favoritism. Ryan encouraged Michael to “crack some skulls.” Dwight and Ryan wrestled over his phone while a client was on the line.
Risk: $$ - Issue: Lying
Description: When Michael asked Dwight and others about their whereabouts following a secret meeting in the warehouse, they all lied to him. They could all potentially be disciplined for lying during an investigation.
Risk: $$ - Issue: Theft of Company Time
Description: Jim and Creed spent most of the episode playing chess. Neither has done any discernible work for weeks. If management doesn’t take action, it will be virtually impossible to enforce workplace productivity rules.
Risk: $$$ - Issue: Corporate Greed
Description: Michael’s prior ethical violations (including stealing clients) came home to roost. The entire staff got embroiled in a conflict over clients and many took (or threatened) actions that potentially violated their fiduciary duty to the company.
Risk: $$$$ - Issue: Workplace Safety
Description: Michael constructed a potentially hazardous “fort” in the warehouse, ignoring prior safety warnings from the warehouse supervisor.
Risk: $$$ - Issue: Inappropriate Promotion Criteria
Description: In making his decision whether to promote Ryan or Pam to a sales position, Michael considered a variety of highly inappropriate criteria, possibly exposing the company to discrimination claims.
Risk: $$$$ - Issue: Fake Promotion/Firing
Description: Michael pulled ”pranks” on Ryan, Pam and Erin, pretending to promote Ryan and then pretending to fire Pam and Erin. All could easily result in emotional distress claims.
Risk: $$$$
OFFICIAL “ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A LAWYER?” CONTEST: Anyone who leaves a comment below identifying an employment law issue that I missed will win a valuable prize. If you didn’t get a chance to see the episode, you can view it on NBC’s official web site here.
As always, thanks for your participation!
