Sunday, October 07, 2007

Running Up a Tab at 'The Office'

Ever fantasized about running over your boss with a car? Perhaps a coworker? Or one of your employees?

If you do it on the job, it could cost the company as much as $450,000 from the ensuing lawsuit, depending on actual medical expenses, according to Julie Elgar, a labor and employment attorney at the law firm of Ford & Harrison in Atlanta who's taken it on herself to critique the NBC TV show "The Office" from her perspective as a lawyer representing management in companies that have been sued by their employees and former employees. Her blog title: "That's What She Said," after a really lame job told by office chief Michael Scott, above.

In a recent posting, she referenced the season premier, in which Scott, the leader of a branch office of fictional paper distributor Dunder Mifflin, ran over one of his subordinates, Meredith, in the parking lot, then used the woman's exposure to a bat (also on company property, but that's another story) to exculpate himself.

Elgar writes:

Add to that Michael’s admission to his boss that the accident was caused by his “negligence,” and Meredith has the beginnings of a nice little lawsuit. Maybe this would be the time for Dunder Mifflin’s attorneys to remind Michael of my favorite saying: “If you can’t be good, then, for the love of God, just be quiet.”

Posted by Unclejbird @ 11:05 AM