Attorney
Alan Rupe wrote an article over at Workforce Management on his “nominees for the
Awfuls—my Bad Boss Behavior of the Year Award.” He presents a pretty vile list. My vote goes
to these creeps:
Our next
nominee is a group performance: Alarm One, a California alarm-sales company,
and two supervisors. Most of the employees in the company’s Fresno office were
18 to 25 years old. Plaintiff Janet Orlando was 52. The supervisors held a
meeting every morning before the field supervisors and the sales team left for
a day of selling alarm systems door-to-door. The meetings had a pep rally
atmosphere with yelling, chanting and cheering. Motivational techniques used at
the morning meetings included passing out bonuses, singing in front of the
group, pies in the face, eating baby food, wearing diapers and spanking with
Alarm One and its competitor’s yard signs. Employees were spanked for arriving
late or for losing a sales competition.
On
January 14, 2004, Janet Orlando was spanked and sustained a cut and a bruise.
She filled out an injury report and was taken to the doctor. Alarm One’s
defense? Orlando was not injured; she never reported the injury; and she never
sought medical care. The verdict was in Orlando’s favor, and the jury awarded
her $500,000 in compensatory damages against the company and the two
supervisors, plus $1 million in punitive damages. (An appeals court sent the
case back to the trial court because of a judge’s erroneous jury instruction, but
defense costs continue.)
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