Litigation Value: Probably neglible, seeing as no one seemed to be offended by Michael’s Irish jokes, and Michael himself looked slightly flattered by the long hug with Todd “PacMan” Packer and Meredith.

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Litigation Value: Not much.

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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.

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Litigation Value: Approximately $5,000 - 10,000; Oscar’s Dunder Mifflin vacation time … and the replacement cost of Stanley’s busted windshield.

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Litigation Value: $0 (which is good because Dunder Mifflin has no money left!)

Unfortunately, tonight’s episode was another repeat. Matt Rita did a fantastic job covering most of the employee relations issues raised by this episode when it originally aired in November. In this post, we will discuss two moments not discussed in the previous post.

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Litigation Value: In the aggregate, $100 million; most of which is punitive damages

OK, so tonight’s episode – The Banker –- didn’t really bring us much new material, but it indeed highlighted five years of near-catastrophic employee-relations failures. As Dunder Mifflin verges on economic collapse, a potential investor dispatches its self-proclaimed “fact-checker” to conduct a due-diligence assessment of the company’s “H.R. liabilities.” While interviewing HR representative Toby Flenderson, the fact-checker poses a series of provocative questions that invoke Toby’s vivid recollection of why he so dearly hates his job. In essence, we rewind the tape a few years. Let’s take a look: Continue Reading »

Happy new year, faithful readers! Those of you who surfed away from the BCS national championship college football game — apparently sponsored by some company other than Dunder Mifflin — may have noticed that the most recent episode of The Office was another repeat. An erudite colleague and fellow blogger has already posted on that show, so we needn’t gild the lily here.

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Litigation Value: One “Tranny Claus” = $0; One Disgruntled Jesus Impersonator = $0; Settlement Checks for Offended Employees = $50,000; Getting an XBox from Santa = Priceless.

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Litigation Value: From Dunder Mifflin’s corporate perspective, likely $0, though it might find itself having to defend claims that it should be liable for Michael’s tuition promise. Michael on the other hand . . . but you can’t get blood from a turnip, right?

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Litigation Value: $0. For the second week running, our favorite paper company largely avoided any obvious liability on the employment law front. In fact, Dunder Mifflin may have a (nominal) claim of its own against Michael Scott and his road-tripping entourage, based on their unauthorized limousine frolic.

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