Weekly Office Analysis & 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: “Sabre.”
The Plot: Here’s NBC’s official description: “The employees adjust to the news that Dunder Mifflin has been bought out by a new company.”
My Analysis:
- Issue: Unauthorized Opening of Mail
Description: Michael and others arguably violated federal law by opening a package that wasn’t addressed to them. Their efforts to cover up their deed by trying to reconstruct the package weren’t exactly successful.
Risk: $ - Issue: Unauthorized Use of Company Property
Description: Among the items in the mistakenly opened package was a scanner. Michael and Dwight took turns scanning various toys from Michael’s desk, misusing company property and wasting company time.
Risk: $ - Issue: Dangerous Workplace Practices
Description: Erin threw a pair of scissors at Michael. Also, Dwight placed a platter of “Scranton’s finest hot dogs” on the ground which could lead to germ infestation and thus employee sickness.
Risk: $$ - Issue: Best Branch??
Description: According to whatever metrics Dunder Mifflin had in place prior to the merger, the Scranton branch had the best performance in the entire company. Whatever measurements were used should immediately be dumped.
Risk: $$$ - Issue: Emotional Distress
Description: Andy and Erin wrote and sang a dreadful welcome song to the new management. Unfortunately — due to everyone in the office mispronouncing the name of the new company — none of it rhymed. Several employees were shown wincing in pain during the performance. In addition, Jim caused Pam obvious pain with a lame joke about their baby joining the “infantry.”
Risk: $$ - Issue: Christian Slater Lies
Description: Sabre distributed a “welcome” video featuring Christian Slater. Mr. Slater made several misrepresentations (and nonsensical statements) during the video, including comparing working for Sabre to “eating a rainbow” (whatever that means). A company that is in the process of acquiring another organization must be exceedingly careful not to make statements that could be construed as promises/representations to new employees.
Risk: $$$ - Issue: Breach of Contract/Change Mismanagement
Description: Sabre may also be exposed to contract liability by changing terms and conditions of employment without conducting adequate due diligence (e.g., reviewing employment agreements, benefit plans, etc.). A company representative did visit the branch to engage in limited due diligence two weeks earlier, but his efforts were laughable (literally). Basically, Sabre’s actions throughout the episode were a great example of how NOT to do change management.
Risk: $$$ - Issue: Insubordination
Description: Michael exhibited a rather high degree of insubordinate conduct throughout the transition. Sabre should send a message by taking official disciplinary action (rather than merely issuing the vague/strange threats from Sabre’s rather scary CEO).
Risk: $$ - Issue: Sexual Harassment
Description: As in prior weeks, Andy and Erin engaged in open (and quite pathetic) flirtatious/stalking conduct. It’s reasonably foreseeable that at some point one of them will cross the line and file a complaint against the other.
Risk: $$ - Issue: Damage to Property
Description: One of Michael’s insubordinate acts was to toss his new Sabre water bottle out of his car window, breaking the windshield of another vehicle in the company parking lot.
Risk: $ - Issue: Computer Filters
Description: While the employees were gathered in a conference room, a Sabre IT person installed Internet filters on their computers, blocking access to all social networking sites. While companies should take reasonable steps to protect their IT assets, blocking access to Facebook, Twitter, etc. is probably overkill (and could result in alienating/losing the bulk of the company’s most technologically savvy employees).
Risk: $$ - Issue: Breach of Confidentiality/Defamation
Description: Michael revealed a number of arguably confidential pieces of information about Sabre and the merger to former Dunder Mifflin CFO David Wallace. Telling anything remotely confidential to Michael is never a good idea.
Risk: $$$ - Issue: Aluminum Poisoning
Description: Based on the employees’ reactions after drinking out of the new Sabre water bottles, it appeared they all could soon be suffering from aluminum sickness. If the company failed to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of the bottles prior to distribution, it could find itself in the midst of a class action.
Risk: $$$$ - Issue: Various Other Inappropriate Comments/Actions
Description: Once again, virtually every employee said or did something inappropriate. At this point, virtually every employee could sue the company for something and win.
Risk: $$$$$$$$$
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!
