Jury Awards $500G to Woman Spanked at Work

[techs]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060428/ap_...2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

A jury awarded $500,000 Friday to a woman who was spanked in front of her colleagues in what her employer called a camaraderie-building exercise.

The jury of six men and six women found that Janet Orlando, 53, was subjected to sexual harassment and sexual battery when she was paddled on the rear end two years ago at Alarm One Inc., a home security company in Fresno. The jury said Orlando did not suffer from sexual assault, as she had alleged.

Alarm One was ordered to pay her damages for lost wages, medical costs and pain and suffering. She had asked for at least $1.2 million.

The next phase of the trial ? to determine whether she should receive punitive damages ? was scheduled to begin Friday afternoon.

Orlando's attorney, Nicholas "Butch" Wagner, said of the verdict: "It's in the ballpark."

K. Pancho Baker, an attorney for Alarm One, said it was excessive. "I think the jury was so upset at Alarm One that they went overboard," Baker said. "Not to say that what Alarm One did was right, but this allows her to manipulate the system."

Orlando quit in 2004, less than a year after she was hired, saying she was humiliated during the company's camaraderie-building exercises.

Sales teams were encouraged to compete, and the losers were made fun of, forced to eat baby food, required to wear diapers and spanked with a rival company's yard signs, according to court documents.

Lawyers for the company said Orlando and others took part in the exercises willingly. The company has since abandoned the practice.

During the trial, company attorneys revealed that Orlando had sued a previous employer, also claiming that she had been sexually



What was this company thinking?
Darwin do your thing.

 

[Theb]

Idiots.

"Not to say that what Alarm One did was right, but this allows her to manipulate the system."

What the hell is he talking about? They did something retarded and got sued for it. They're lucky she's the only one suing.

 

[Howard]

$500 000??? Where can I go to get my ass spanked?

 

[owensdj]

If I was spanked in school as a child, do I get $500,000 too?

 

[Aegeon]

Originally posted by: owensdj
If I was spanked in school as a child, do I get $500,000 too?

This may have been a sarcastic remark, but it probably was legal and reasonably accepted that you could get spanked in school at that time. You don't expect the same thing to occur as an adult at work, and getting spanked as an adult is degrading socially to a degree it was not as a kid. Keep in mind damages are not merely about "pain and suffering" in this case, but also about lost wages from the woman feeling compelled to quit her job, which can really add up over time if the job paid fairly well. (Presumably she was able to establish in court that she was confident she would have been fired if she simply refused to participate in the exercises, so she felt compelled to quit.) Obviously part of the intent of the legal system is to discourage behavoir like this from companies in the future.

 

[Mucho]

I am happy she won, that company is run by morons.

 

[1EZduzit]

This is definelty a case of "it hurts so good".

 

[Aimster]

Maybe I should sue my company..

there is a guy who has grabbed my ass several times at work and called me a cutie..

he is joking but I told him to stop ... he stopped but he just calls me a cutie now..

I'm seriously thinking of sueing .. i'll be whatever my lawyer wants me to be for $500,000.

So can I sue? I can do wonders with 500K

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: Mucho
I am happy she won, that company is run by morons.

What kind of moron would work for that company?

 

[moshquerade]

rifuvckindiculous

 

[raz3000]

Actually, the verdict is $1,700,000

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060429/ap_on_re_us/spanking_trial

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: Aimster
Maybe I should sue my company..

there is a guy who has grabbed my ass several times at work and called me a cutie..

he is joking but I told him to stop ... he stopped but he just calls me a cutie now..

I'm seriously thinking of sueing .. i'll be whatever my lawyer wants me to be for $500,000.

So can I sue? I can do wonders with 500K

Does it make you feel uncomfortable when he calls you a cutie? Maybe you should ask him to stop that, too. Seriously, would you call a female co-worker a cutie? I suppose it depends on the type of relationship you have with him. If you are at a level where kidding is OK, then I suppose it is OK. Realistically, though, how will he know that his behavior is "inappropriate" if no-one ever tells him? He'll just go around behaving like he always has, not even realising he is making people feel uncomfortable.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: techs
Orlando quit in 2004, less than a year after she was hired, saying she was humiliated during the company's camaraderie-building exercises.

Sales teams were encouraged to compete, and the losers were made fun of, forced to eat baby food, required to wear diapers and spanked with a rival company's yard signs, according to court documents.

Lawyers for the company said Orlando and others took part in the exercises willingly. The company has since abandoned the practice.

The managers should be fired - this is seriously the best idea they could come up with????

What motivates workers: money. Pay fairly, and you'll probably get fewer complaints. BS like this is a way of trying to get people to think that the company's doing them a favor, so they work harder without "wasting" precious payroll dollars.

Bizarre practices....but if they took part willingly, as the company lawyers allege, well, THEN I don't think that there's grounds for the lawsuit.
Even so, I think that when she saw this impending spanking, she should have backed out right then and there.
If they fire her for that, THEN she could sue for wrongful termination, and I'd be fully behind that.

This lawsuit though - doesn't seem the right way to handle this.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: techs
Orlando quit in 2004, less than a year after she was hired, saying she was humiliated during the company's camaraderie-building exercises.

Sales teams were encouraged to compete, and the losers were made fun of, forced to eat baby food, required to wear diapers and spanked with a rival company's yard signs, according to court documents.

Lawyers for the company said Orlando and others took part in the exercises willingly. The company has since abandoned the practice.

The managers should be fired - this is seriously the best idea they could come up with????

What motivates workers: money. Pay fairly, and you'll probably get fewer complaints. BS like this is a way of trying to get people to think that the company's doing them a favor, so they work harder without "wasting" precious payroll dollars.

Bizarre practices....but if they took part willingly, as the company lawyers allege, well, THEN I don't think that there's grounds for the lawsuit.
Even so, I think that when she saw this impending spanking, she should have backed out right then and there.
If they fire her for that, THEN she could sue for wrongful termination, and I'd be fully behind that.

This lawsuit though - doesn't seem the right way to handle this.

I don't know how many "team building" activities you've been involved in, but getting out of them is not exactly easy, and pressuring someone to agree to something has never been an excuse for companies before. I suppose it depends on the legal definition of "willingly".

And you're wrong about money being the only motivating factor, there IS such a thing as have a positive, team oriented, work environment, but that isn't achieved through phoney, forced team building exercises. It's a difficult thing to actually do, which is probably why so many companies resort to this kind of nonsense.

 

[Buck Armstrong]

Why? I know a few women that would pay 500G to get spanked at work...

 

[strummer]

Originally posted by: Aimster
Maybe I should sue my company..

there is a guy who has grabbed my ass several times at work and called me a cutie..

he is joking but I told him to stop ... he stopped but he just calls me a cutie now..

I'm seriously thinking of sueing .. i'll be whatever my lawyer wants me to be for $500,000.

So can I sue? I can do wonders with 500K

Who is this guy? A superior? An equal?

This is clearly unacceptable behavior in any kind of professional environment. If he is your superior - I would say you have grounds. Not saying that I would sue - that would be dependent on a whole bunch of variables, the most important of which would be if he was in a position to negatively effect your career.

If he is an equal to you, and you are mostly on friendly terms, I would say that you should just be frank with him. If you are in any way freaked out by the guy - I would say you should definitely get management (or HR) involved. That will probably end up with the butt grabber in question being fired (at most companies). There is too much open ended liability for a company to keep someone (i.e. the grabber) who is a sexual harassment case in waiting, around.

 

[JEDIYoda]

actually most guys would get a thrill see her ^%& cheeks red....
All kinds of morale building for the guys...lolol

 

[compuwiz1]

I'll bet, when then punitive phase is done, she gets 2 mil.

Very expensive ass spanking, IMO. I'm sure she has enjoyed every minute of the whole saga.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
I'll bet, when then punitive phase is done, she gets 2 mil.

Very expensive ass spanking, IMO. I'm sure she has enjoyed every minute of the whole saga.

Read above... she got 1.7Mil. Mind you it will get knocked down and drug otu to where she ends up with 100k probable.

raz3000 posted...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060429/ap_on_re_us/spanking_trial

 

[TGregg]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Read above... she got 1.7Mil. Mind you it will get knocked down and drug otu to where she ends up with 100k probable.

Geez, S&M prices are getting out of hand. And people gripe about the oil companies.

 

[BBond]

Originally posted by: Buck Armstrong
Why? I know a few women that would pay 500G to get spanked at work...

My boss could have spanked me any time she liked for only $5,000 a pop.

 

[robphelan]

"that they took part willingly" can be very misleading.

there are a few things here that are completely voluntary but aren't really.

we're highly encouraged to give to the united way (at least 1% of annual), highly encouraged to donate to the company's PAC, and highly encouraged to volunteer at least 24 hours a year.

if you take a quick look, it's not so bad - giving time and money back to the community. but the PAC thing really irks me.

 

[Zebo]

Lawyers for the company said Orlando and others took part in the exercises willingly.

It's always amusing to me to hear about private tyranny and jump to the conclusion the employeees had a choice. First of all there is the obvious: maybe she took the job before the humiliation program was implemented thus the program was forced upon the employee w/o thier express consent. Second most people arnt fortunate enough or liquid enough to just up and quit a job with house payments due, kids in school etc - so is it really a choice if it's starve or work? Like having a gun to your head - It's a coercive relationship many employee have over them and thus should be regulated as we see fit. I'm glad the jury saw fit to impose some heavy fines on a irresposible employer.

 

[sonoma1993]

the thing that puzzles me, why was she awarded $40,000 for future medical cost?