Still Curious About That Employee-Spanking Case? Of Course You Are!

Highlighting why it is a leading HR publication, Workforce Management presents the story of the employee “spanking” case, providing more details and analysis on this “major corporate black eye” case than the sources we cited in these earlier posts on this Blawg :

“How NOT To Do Employee Training: Spanking Trainees”

“Get Spanked by your Employer, Win 1/2 million dollars!”

“More Damages in Spanking Case!”

Rather than treating the case as simply a bizarre lawsuit brought by an opportunistic plaintiff, Workforce Management teaches us about what went wrong and why, offering details from interviews with the company’s COO, attorneys, and HR experts familiar with the case.

Some additional facts brought out by this story:

• “Patrick Smith, COO of Alarm One Inc., isn’t apologetic about how he handled the ‘team-building’ spankings,” but still says defensively, “You have to understand the sales mentality. Sales guys are just that way.” [If he testified this way, I can begin to understand the verdict!]
• A female plaintiff in an earlier case against the company was bruised with a metal paddle. [A similar earlier case? Ouch! Bruised with a metal paddle? Double, triple ouch!]
• “It was only after a woman was hospitalized [!] for being hit with a metal sign that the spankings stopped.
• The company’s attorney said in a phone interview on the day of the verdict that the employee conduct was “reprehensible,” but not intended to be “malicious or sadistic,” that “it was young people acting juvenile and engaging in juvenile behavior,” and that “they didn’t have much supervision and the company promoted salespeople without enough training. “[Attorneys: May I recommend "no comment" to the press the day your client loses a big one, except maybe to say the company is disappointed and is considering an appeal?]

Quoted experts warned that unusual as the specific facts of this case were, similar failures of management to recognize and prevent outrageous conduct can happen at any company.

The article generalizes some good broad lessons from this case:

Lesson 1: If you have a problem in a remote location, you must go there . . .

Lesson 2: The company needed a policy to allow people to come forward . . .

Lesson 3: Do a serious investigation, or the plaintiff’s attorney will do it for you.

Lesson 4: If you have a problem, you better make sure your answer will sound good on 60 Minutes.

The article quotes the successful plaintiff’s attorney as saying the defense used three common (and questionable) tactics:

• Blame the victim.
• Circle the management wagons.
• Deny, deny, deny.

Workforce.com: “Lawsuit Reveals Team Building Gone Berserk”

UPDATE 1/18/08: Court Overturns $1.5M Spanking Verdict

[A] three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal overturned that verdict, ruling that the jury had been given improper instructions. In particular, the jury wasn’t instructed that one vital element of proving that sexual harassment occurred is showing the action was directed at a woman because of her gender.

Photo credit: flashback via flickr