LITIGATION VALUE: $500,000

I’d say that Martin (“the Convict”) Nash has a damn good race discrimination case. First his boss publicly humiliates him by announcing that he is a convict, and then, during the same speech, asks his co-workers to name trustworthy people so he can identify an African-American whom he trusts more. Who does he name? Danny Glover (whom he trusts more than Pam’s dad); Colin Powell (whom he trusts more than Justin Timberlake) and Apollo Creed (whom he trusts more than Jesus). Plus, I don’t think Dundler-Mifflin’s attorneys are looking forward to making the “because they didn’t like my racist impression of ‘Prison Mike,’ I locked them in the conference room so they would appreciate me more” argument to a jury. Call me crazy.

I’m also going to go out on a limb and say that locking your employees in a conference room is a bad idea. It could lead to a claim of false imprisonment. And because there are no statutory caps (in most states) for this type of claim, I think the company may have to cough up a bunch of money. Truthfully, I’ve never had a case where a manager has locked employees in a conference room. But when I sent a firm wide e-mail around to see if anyone else had, amazingly, there were attorneys who have handled similar claims. They tell me the cases were resolved for some pretty staggering figures. Plus, as any litigator knows, when Martin’s case goes to trial he will tell a tale of woe replete with “vicious” instances of pain, suffering and recurrent episodes of post-traumatic stress disorder. . . . But then again, I may just be a cynical couch potato.

LITIGATION VALUE: $150,000 in defense costs — unless (and that is a big unless) the WARN Act applies.

Call me crazy, but announcing “we’re screwed” is not the best way to tell employees that the company is closing down its branch. Not only does it create turmoil among the employees, but it comes nowhere close to meeting the requirements of the WARN Act. And as we all know, turmoil breeds litigation. Under WARN, certain employers must provide notice to employees when a facility or “operating unit” is shut down. I can’t tell from this episode whether or not Dunder Mifflin would have been subject to WARN, but if it was, I feel confident in saying that “we’re screwed” is not going to constitute proper notice.

LITIGATION VALUE: $350,000

My grandmother always said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I never knew exactly what she meant. Until now. Michael’s diversity training, well intentioned as it may have been, provides ample evidence of discriminatory bias against employees of Indian descent in general and of Kelly in particular. Indeed, Michael’s PowerPoint on famous Indians includes only three people — one of whom is the fictional character Apu from The Simpsons.

Standing alone, the events in this week’s episode, taken either together or separately, probably will not be actionable national origin harassment. It’s a close call, but, generally, one offensive meeting is not enough. On the other hand, if Kelly were to include all of the offensive conduct from past episodes, including the diversity training episode in season one when employees had to act out traits from various ethnic groups, then she has a good case. A very good one. And the fact that Toby sat in Michael’s “Indian Cultural Seminar” without shutting it down just makes it worse.

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