Litigation value: $0

While everyone at Dunder Mifflin seemed a little more animated than usual on “The Surplus” episode of The Office, fortunately there was nothing that I saw that anyone did to create liability for the company in terms of a lawsuit. Obviously, I don’t recommend secretly marrying a coworker against her will, but that isn’t going to lead to a verdict against Dunder Mifflin.

Despite this, there were still things that we can learn from “The Surplus.” The thing that stuck out to me the most was Pam’s kissing up to Michael when she was trying to get him to choose new chairs over a new copier. She dolled herself up and made several flattering comments about how nice Michael’s back side looked in those $9 pants.

Although employees generally cannot sexually harass their supervisors, it’s a slippery slope from yelling about Michael’s bottom to creating a hostile environment for another easily offended employee who is subjected to that kind of talk. Angela slapping one on Andy in front of everybody isn’t helping either. From a liability or “I just had dinner” perspective.

Hostile work environments aren’t created in a day (unless you open up an adult bookstore or something). A comment is made here or there, and over time more comments are made because people feel like it’s acceptable. This situation can spiral out of control and cause problems for your company. It’s best to nip these in the bud and make sure your employees and supervisors realize that the workplace is no place for that kind of talk. Or making out. Otherwise, you’ll have quite a headache on your hands. Kind of like Andy after Mose threw that pumpkin at his head.