Litigation Value: $1,000,000
The folks at Dunder Mifflin must have felt like giving because they were essentially writing checks on the “Moroccan Christmas” episode of The Office. As always, there was plenty of inappropriate conduct going on this week, but rarely does it rise to this level.
Michael served excessive amounts of alcohol to Meredith, causing her to get drunk and light herself on fire ($); then, he led an intervention about her alcoholism — at work ($$); and then, he basically kidnapped her and physically assaulted her as he tried to falsely imprison her at the rehabilitation center ($$$).
We talked about the dangers of having office parties a few weeks ago. And, you don’t need to be a legal genius to see that Meridith has a surefire winner against Michael for being dragged, literally, into rehab. (Though I must say, visualizing that makes me laugh out loud every time.) The intervention also could get the company in trouble for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Though employees aren’t forgiven for misconduct, the ADA protects people with substance abuse problems from discrimination at work. Toby was right — employers can’t talk about potential medical problems or substance abuse issues; rather, we always need to focus on the misconduct. Michael should leave the interventions to the doctors on A&E.
All of these things would definitely lead to a six- or seven-figure verdict against Dunder Mifflin and Michael. And, we haven’t even addressed the stray religious comments.
Yes, it was a big week in Scranton. And, yes, Meredith, there is a Santa Claus. His name is Michael Scott.
That was a hilarious episode and timely as I just wrote a post http://www.allbusiness.com/society-social/customs-cultural-heritage/11711308-1.html
on the terrors of holiday parties. Too bad I didn’t see this episode first.