Labor / Employment, On The Job

3 Unbelievable Employment Cases

Some people simply aren’t able to only let their freak flags fly when they’re off the clock.

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These cases will blow your mind.

I’m sure that criminal law attorneys can tell stories with some unbelievable fact patterns. I doubt any other practice area can beat them in that category. It might surprise you, but I think employment lawyers come in a close second.

When most people find out I practice labor and employment law, it’s clear they think it’s super boring. They either change the topic quickly to avoid conversational purgatory or their faces get this glazed-over look like they’re sure I’m about to spout off obscure statutes or something equally dull.

To avoid that (and to make myself seem cooler than I am), when people ask nowadays what kind of law I practice, I tell them, “Uh, the coolest and most fun kind of law there is, employment law.”

I say this because it’s true. The facts of the cases I work on and read are often better than fiction. The things people do and say at work consistently amaze me.

When you think about it, though, most people spend something like half (or more) of their waking hours at work. Some people simply aren’t able to only let their freak flags fly when they’re off the clock. This means that some people’s particular brand of crazy is going to show up at work at some point.

There’s the delivery driver who swore her company vehicle was hit by a pterodactyl. There’s the guy who drank a 24-case of Mountain Dew every day but blamed his hyperactivity and anxiety on his boss. There’s the high school teacher who claimed she had a debilitating phobia of children. There’s the employee using the company credit card to buy supplies for her meth lab.

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I could go on, but I’ve chosen the three cases below to talk about in a little more detail because these are three of my favorites. They are all real cases. (To be clear, I wasn’t involved in any of these cases; I just read about them from case filings and news reports.)

  1. That time an employer allegedly required a blind worker to operate a radial saw.

The title is self-explanatory here. According to the lawsuit filed by the worker, he was legally blind and, for some reason, was assigned the job of cutting wooden chocks with an electric-powered radial saw — one that purportedly “was not adequately and properly equipped with appropriate safety devices and features.”

You of course know what happened next. The complaint says that the employee’s right hand and part of his right arm were severed while he was operating the saw. He sued his employer arguing that it was reckless for it to have assigned him that particular task.

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Let me introduce you to my friend Captain Obvious.

  1. That time an “injured” worker spun the big wheel on The Price is Right.

An employee sought and was awarded workers’ compensation benefits as the result of having been seriously injured in an on-the-job accident. She was out of work for several years, and claimed that she could not “stand, sit, kneel, squat, climb, bend, reach, or grasp.”

Her injuries were later called into question, however, when she appeared as a contestant on the game show The Price is Right. While on the show she spun the “big wheel” twice, which, in case you haven’t seen the show, appears to require almost Herculean effort.

A subsequent investigation revealed that she purportedly also went on a cruise during which she went ziplining, and that she had been spotted carrying furniture on numerous occasions. She was indicted and pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.

  1. That time a departing employee mooned the company executives.

An analyst for a company in Illinois got upset when he found out that his good friend and co-worker had been fired for refusing to accept a new position with the company at a lower wage.

He was so upset, in fact, that he walked into a conference room where the Company’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Information Officer were meeting, and, after confirming with them that he did not have a covenant not to compete with the company, dropped his pants and mooned both of them. He testified in the case that he knew for certain that his actions could result in his termination, which is why he asked about the non-compete agreement first. Smart.

He was obviously fired. But what’s less obvious is that under his employment agreement with the company a termination for “cause” would result in him forfeiting his severance package. The value of the severance package: $700,000.

The company said that mooning its executives constituted “cause.” When he was terminated, the company therefore refused to pay him any severance.  He sued the company for breach of his employment agreement but lost his case. The court found his behavior to be insubordinate, disruptive, unruly, and abusive, concluding that he was justly terminated for “cause.”

As you can see, the facts of the cases we employment lawyers deal with and read about keep our jobs interesting, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

evan-gibbsEvan Gibbs is an attorney at Troutman Sanders, where he primarily litigates employment cases and handles traditional labor matters. Connect with him on LinkedIn here, or e-mail him here. (The views expressed in this column are his own.)

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