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Subscribe by EmailWondering Whether Good HRM Practices Are Important or Not? They May Be More Important Than Good Customer Service!
Read about this story from HrHero.com concerning a customer and the poor service that he obtained from the restaurant’s host. You will learn what to look for before you sue
the next restaurant that provides bad customer service to you.
Now, on to the story, as summarized in the article:
Very briefly, the host acted in a rude, sarcastic way to the customer and his family. As the customer was leaving at the end, the host intentionally bumped into him. When another employee asked the customer what had happened, the host came over and said, “What is he whining about now?” The host then suggested that he and the customer settle their dispute elsewhere. The customer and his family left the restaurant and that was the end of the matter, until a few months later, when the customer sued the restaurantfor the intentional infliction of emotional distress caused by the host. The suit alleged that the restaurant was responsible for what had happened.
The court reviewed the case, decided against the customer, and despite being appealed, the customer still lost the case. A key point that the court accepted was that the
host wasn’t acting within the scope of his employment when the incident occurred.
Indeed, the company had policies about customer service, evaluated hosts on their customer service, and even fired the host after this incident. Thus, the court concluded that:
Although what he did occurred while he was on duty, it was in direct contradiction to his employer’s rules. Making a customer so mad that he filed suit against the company is certainly not something that furthers the purpose of a restaurant.
This article concludes that, although the company prevailed, the outcome might have been quite different, if certain other facts changed. What if, for example, the company had obtained references indicating the host had caused problems in a previous job? The company had detected problems on the job before? The company had not fired him?
The lessons:
1. Good HRM practices can save companies a lot of grief.
2. Next time you are mistreated by a store, sue them (just joking!)
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For those who didn’t have the pleasure of a first-year law school torts class, here’s a few basic points raised by this post.
Tort claims based on common law, as opposed to employment claims under discrimination statutes, are increasingly brought into the mix by plaintiffs’ lawyers representing employees (or former employees)
These run the gamut from assault and battery to defamation (libel and slander), tortious interference with business expectancy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress (”you hurt my feelings”).
Company liability on such claims often turns on whether the conduct was within the scope of employment, as it did in this case. In some cases the answer to this question is obvious, but the “gray area” is relatively large. Company HRM policies and practices absolutely can turn a grey area case into a clean white case, which is what happened here.