Woman Sues for Spanking at Work

[jspchief]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/04/26/D8H80BG87.html

Calif. Woman Spanked at Work Sues for $1.2M
Apr 26 7:43 PM US/Eastern
By JULIANA BARBASSA
Associated Press Writer
FRESNO, Calif.

Lawyers for a woman who was spanked in front of her co-workers as part of what her employer said was a camaraderie-building exercise asked a jury Wednesday for at least $1.2 million for the humiliation she claimed to have suffered.

Janet Orlando, 53, quit her job at the home security company Alarm One Inc. and sued, alleging discrimination, assault, battery and infliction of emotional distress.

Employees were paddled with rival companies' yard signs as part of a contest that pitted sales teams against each other, according to court documents. The winners poked fun at the losers, throwing pies at them, feeding them baby food, making them wear diapers and swatting their buttocks.

"No reasonable middle-aged woman would want to be put up there before a group of young men, turned around to show her buttocks, get spanked and called abusive names, and told it was to increase sales and motivate employees," her lawyer, Nicholas "Butch" Wagner, said in his closing argument.

Lawyers for Alarm One, an Anaheim-based, 300-employee company, said the spankings were part of a voluntary program to build camaraderie and were not discriminatory because they were given to both male and female workers.

"This is being done for one reason and one reason only _ money," said K. Poncho Baker, the company's lawyer.

Alarm One officials ceased the practice in 2004, the year Orlando sued, after another employee complained of being injured, according to court records.

While I don't think the company had any malicious intent, in these days of 'get rich from lawsuits' they have to be smarter than that.

But my question is, if you were on a jury, would you give her 1.2 mil? I'm sorry, but I just don't see where a little humiliation at your workplace entitles you to a windfall. If I decided the company should pay at all, I would think an amount in the neighborhood of 4-5 years salary would be sufficient.

I'm tired of lawsuits becoming a method for people to get rich. I realize that with big companies, you need to make it an amount that is large enough to be punitive, but I'd almost rather a large portion of that money be put in programs related to the offense, or even be penalties paid to the state.

[Saulbadguy]

Sure, it is being done only for money, but when will employers stop doing stupid ****ing things like this?

[ChiefsfaninPA]

This just goes to show how dumb these corporate types are. Once again a company has done something so foolish that someone with an inkling of common sense should've known was not going to result in something good.

[Kraut]

I have to ask why the hell she volunteered for something like that? Then to turn around and sue....Come on :shake:

[FAX]

Although I like the idea of spanking female employees, you should probably only do it in private.

FAX

[Lzen]

I have to ask why the hell she volunteered for something like that? Then to turn around and sue....Come on :shake:

I think you just answered your own question.

[ChiefsfaninPA]

I have to ask why the hell she volunteered for something like that? Then to turn around and sue....Come on :shake:

She probably felt pressured. If she didn't, next thing you know she wouldn't have a job. But for some other reason of course.:rolleyes:

[Lzen]

Although I like the idea of spanking female employees, you should probably only do it in private.

FAX

You should see some of the women at my workplace. You would probably change your view on spanking female employees.

[Kraut]

I think you just answered your own question.
Yeah your right ....hey its still early have not had my coffee :p

[jspchief]

This just goes to show how dumb these corporate types are. Once again a company has done something so foolish that someone with an inkling of common sense should've known was not going to result in something good.I agree. I recognize the desire to bring out the competitive nature in your sales teams, but diapers and spankings is clearly degrading and way over the line. The stupidity of management never ceases to amaze me.

That being said, I don't think it's worth 1.2 million.

[Kraut]

I agree. I recognize the desire to bring out the competitive nature in your sales teams, but diapers and spankings is clearly degrading and way over the line. The stupidity of management never ceases to amaze me.

That being said, I don't think it's worth 1.2 million.
It was stupid for management to do this but she was just as stupid if not more for volunteering to do it.

[Fish]

Freakin idiots for doing anything to humiliate other employees.... what did they expect?

Freakin idiot woman for trying to get rich off of it.......

[DaKCMan AP]

If I were on the jury I wouldn't give her 1.2million. I'd only give her a spanking.

http://www.geocities.com/dakcman/gator_champs2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/dakcman/logo_head.jpg

[FAX]

You should see some of the women at my workplace. You would probably change your view on spanking female employees.

Are they enormous, giant, imposing figures of female employees, Mr. Lzen? Or do they have bony a$$es that would hurt your hand? The female employees at FAX enterprises, could use a good spanking from time to time.

Actually, I'm only joking around here. In all honesty, I believe that any form of physical abuse, regardless of the supposed justification, is wrong. Unless, of course, the recipient of the spanking is willing, signs a release, and is wearing a bustier and garter.

FAX

[jspchief]

I'll bet 99% of the people involved thought it was a hoot. There's always one uptight asshole that ruins it for everyone.

[ct]

I don't see why she agreed to do it the 1st place?

[Kraut]

I don't see why she agreed to do it the 1st place?
That's my thought as well. :clap:

[PastorMikH]

But my question is, if you were on a jury, would you give her 1.2 mil?


No. These people wouldn't want me to be a judge or serve on a jury. 1.2 mil for medical damages, being physically disabled on the job, etc are one thing. But Humiliation is another. The most I'd give, if I were in a giving mood, would be a settlement comparable to 30 days severence plus remaining vacation time she had coming to her. The amount undoubtedly would be eaten up by her court costs and then some.


People need to realize, they don't have to go through this stuff. There is always the option of refusing to participate, as well as QUITING the job. Face it lady, you and your team got creamed in sales. My last question is, how would this lady have acted if she were on the winning side of the contest? Would she have refused to participate in the victory celebration? My guess is she is just being a sore loser.

[Rain Man]

Uh-oh. I hope none of my employees hear about this.

[htismaqe]

I don't see why she agreed to do it the 1st place?

Peer pressure. She may not have felt that she had a choice - perhaps it was voluntary but non-participants were treated differently for declining?

It's quite simple - this company is STUPID.

[Inspector]

Well, that's it.

I'm going to halt all spanking programs here at work.

Although I will still make myself available to receive from my finer looking female employees.

[Vegas_Dave]

I agree that she should get some sort of retribution... frankly, I think that the whole exercise by the employer is absurd... being a small business owner myself.

I think 5 years salary as a cash award and then she is also able to "paddle" her boss in the same manor in front of all the employees of the company.

That is fair in my opinion.

[burt]

I once sued my employer for spankings......but they wouldn't give me any!!!!

[Sully]

mmmmm
Great movie

[Fire Me Boy!]

This is kinda frivolous. I can't remember the case, but I remember hearing about one a while ago where the judge felt it was frivolous, but the plaintiff won the argument -- so he awarded the plaintiff the victory and $1 for actual and punitive damages.

[BIG_DADDY]

They had a lawsuit here that was actually worse in the way it was set up. A guy running a frozen yogurt shop hired all young girls and would make them bend over his knee pull down their pants and he would spank their naked ass when they did something wrong. I think he lost 200k and had some type of criminal charge added to that as well and had to shut down or sell his business. Pretty expensive ass if you ask me. I can't believe people are not any smarter than that.

When these big dollar lawsuits became real popular right after Anita Hill I was still running health clubs. It was so bad we went from late night parties with lots of staff doing staff to firing anyone who dated another employee. Any male in management was told to not even talk to a female employee in his office without having another female present. In spite of this the company I worked for averaged one sexual harrassment lawsuit per club the year following the Anita Hill case. We only had one in the entire company the previous year.

****ing attorneys. :cuss: The exotic erotic ball used to be a company event. The last year we took 13 limos up to the city loaded with young girls in their sexiest panties and bras. It was a beautiful thing.

[CosmicPal]

What a ****

[Rain Man]

I agree that she should get some sort of retribution... frankly, I think that the whole exercise by the employer is absurd... being a small business owner myself.

I think 5 years salary as a cash award and then she is also able to "paddle" her boss in the same manor in front of all the employees of the company.

That is fair in my opinion.


I pretty much agree with all of this.

The boss was stupid to do this. Admittedly, I've learned that there's nothing you can do on a social level that won't result in at least one employee getting insulted, because every human being is completely out of whack with reality on 5 percent of issues, but at the same time those "activities" would be insulting to a lot more than 5 percent.

[Luzap]

This sounds like an extreme variation of the 'Steak and Beans Dinner' contest.

The winning sales team eats steak at the awards dinner, the losing team eats beans.

I wonder if I could get sued because someone was 'humiliated'?

Luz
never thought of spanking...

[Rain Man]

Heh... next time I go to court... I'm hiring a lawyer named Butch.

And avoid lawyers named Poncho. Is that even a real name?

[Skip Towne]

Uh-oh. I hope none of my employees hear about this.
Too late!! I've already sent the memo.

[MahiMike]

This just goes to show how dumb these corporate types are. Once again a company has done something so foolish that someone with an inkling of common sense should've known was not going to result in something good.

No. It just shows you how stupidly litigious our society has become. You can't even talk to people at work anymore without having to think about every single way it could be misconstrued.

[Katipan]

to pancho!

to the st. pat's board!

[picasso]

I'll bet 99% of the people involved thought it was a hoot. There's always one uptight asshole that ruins it for everyone.

I don't understand you frickin tards. You just don't do that in the workplace period. They aren't your family and the assumption that a coworker is a friend, close enough to spank their naked ass in front of everyone else is absurd.
If you want to have a hoot like that go to a strip club with your friends where you would soon realize YOU WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DO IT THERE EITHER.
People do stupid crap pacifiying ownership or supervisors to make sure they have a job the next day. More power to her, she should have owned the company after that crap.

[FAX]

There once was a woman whose sales
Were not quite as good as the males.
So they gave her a spanking
And now she is banking
On sending her bosses to jails.

FAX

[burt]

This sounds like an extreme variation of the 'Steak and Beans Dinner' contest.

The winning sales team eats steak at the awards dinner, the losing team eats beans.

I wonder if I could get sued because someone was 'humiliated'?

Luz
never thought of spanking...

Every steak and beans contest I ever had......we ended up getting the losers steak too.

Lastly, I think of spankings oten.............just never related to work, and only with my delicious wife.

[Bwana]

Hmmm? The company must have hired Al Bundy as their HR manager to get into this spot. :shake: On one hand, there had to be tards for management to let that happen. On the other hand, no one held a gun to her head and made her drop her pants for a good office spanking. It looks like either way she is now looking for a big payday.

[Scaga]

This is why all spankings at work should be done in private...like the copy room, after hours, ect... :holdman:

[Phobia]

The only person who can really answer these questions for sure is Frankie. Where is he, anyway?

[DanT]

Here's another report on the story.

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/12096967p-12848557c.html

Alarm company sued over team spankings
Practice to build fellowship, bolster sales, firm contends

BY PABLO LOPEZ
THE FRESNO BEE


Last Updated: April 25, 2006, 06:09:57 AM PDT


A former Fresno alarm systems company saleswoman who was spanked by her supervisors while her co-workers watched and jeered wants money for her humiliation.
Janet Orlando, 53, says she was so humiliated by three spankings in front of her coworkers that she quit her job as an Alarm One Inc. field supervisor in February 2003.

Alarm One's lawyers say Orlando voluntarily quit after five months of employment and that her allegation of discrimination are unfounded because supervisors spanked male and female employees.

The lawyers also said Orlando was a willing participant in the spankings and that there was no intent to hurt her or other employees. They say the spankings — with a competitor's yard sign — were done in fun to build camaraderie among the sales force.

Testimony in Fresno County Superior Court Judge Wayne Ellison's courtroom is expected to wrap up today. After closing arguments, a jury of six men and six women will decide the case.

A key issue is Orlando's credibility. She has testified that she is a recovering prescription drug addict who has been arrested twice on suspicion of shoplifting.

Alarm One, based in Anaheim, has more than 300 employees who provide sales, installation, service and alarm monitoring to thousands of families across the United States, the company Web site says. The company and its supervisors are being defended by Fresno lawyers K. Poncho Baker, Katherine Hart and Russell Cook.

Orlando's lawyer is Nicholas "Butch" Wagner, also of Fresno.

Court records say the company's motivational practices began in the Hayward office, where sales teams competed, with the winners poking fun at the losers. The winners threw pies at the losers, fed them baby food, made them wear diapers and swatted their buttocks with a competitor's yard sign.

The practices extended to the Fresno branch soon after it opened in July 2003. The spankings ceased in early 2004 after corporate officials learned that another employee complained of being injured, court records show.

Hart likened the antics to old-fashion fraternity hazing such as swallowing a goldfish.

"There was no intent to hurt anyone," Hart said. "It was motivation sales antics gone awry."

Daily meetings had spanks

Testimony has revealed that Alarm One typically hires young men and women to walk neighborhoods and make sales pitches to homeowners. The employees work on commission and are required to attend daily sales training meetings.

According to Wagner, salespeople who arrived late for a meeting or talked out of turn were subject to a spanking. "The spankings also were used to increase productivity from its work force," he said.

During the spankings, the sales force hooted and shouted lewd comments such as "bend over, baby" and "you've been a bad girl," according to court documents.

Because of her age, Orlando saw herself as a mother figure, who was a willing participant in the company's motivational meetings, former Alarm One supervisor Nina Correia testified last week.

Correia, 23, said she trained Orlando and that Orlando never complained about being spanked. She said Orlando had fun at the meetings and also uttered foul language when people got spanked. "She was willing, ready and excited about being there," Correia testified.

According to Correia, Orlando abruptly quit because she was passed over for promotion, not because she was spanked.

Correia initially testified that the spankings were done in fun. But on cross-examination, she conceded that in her pre-trial deposition she didn't agree with the spankings: "That's not my extracurricular activity. I have to work, you know."

She also said in her deposition that the spankings were not a secret from corporate officials.

Atmosphere 'like a strip club'

Mark Keppler, a California State University, Fresno, professor of human resource management, also has testified that the atmosphere at the Alarm One meetings was like that of a strip club. The difference is that strip clubs would not allow physical attacks on its employees, he said.

Keppler, who examined court documents and witnesses' depositions in connection with the case, said Alarm One limited employees' complaints of sexual harassment to supervisors who likely did the spankings.

Once corporate officials learned of the spankings, Keppler said, they did a cursory investigation by e-mail or telephone calls, and failed to talk to all of the employees.

"The company policy was geared toward damage control," Keppler said.

Keppler said supervisors who spanked employees were only given a verbal warning. In comparison, when a saleswoman didn't go to work because her grandfather was gravely ill, she was written up, Keppler said.

Keppler cited the testimony of Rondell Harris, vice president of sales. Confronted about whether the spankings took place, Harris said in his pre-trial deposition: "Maybe."

"The company clearly knew this was happening," Keppler said. "But it took the see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil approach."

Baker said Alarm One officials provide sexual harassment training to its employees, thoroughly investigate employees' complaints and immediately ceased the spanking once it was revealed to corporate officials.

[JBucc]

1.2 million? Holy scmoley's that's a lot for just spankin someone. I'd let you beat the shit out of me for 1.2 mil.

[listopencil]

"No reasonable middle-aged woman would want to be put up there before a group of young men, turned around to show her buttocks, get spanked..

Not true.

[ct]

She got $500K

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/28/spanking.case.ap/index.html

Jury awards spanked employee $500K
Alarm company says it was part of a team-building exercise

Friday, April 28, 2006; Posted: 3:57 p.m. EDT (19:57 GMT)

(AP) -- 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 was subjected to sexual harassment and sexual battery when she was paddled two years ago at Alarm One Inc., a home security company in Fresno.

The jury, however, said that Orlando did not suffer from sexual assault as she had alleged.

Orlando, 53, had asked for at least $1.2 million in lost wages, medical costs and damages.

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 alarm 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.

[InChiefsHeaven]

Suing for 1.2 mil for THIS? You know she liked it, they ALL do!! What's next? Suing for being forced to give blowjobs?? Man, we can't have ANY fun at work any more!! It's all a great morale booster. Geeez, this country is going to hell on a greased pole...

[BIG_DADDY]

She got $500K

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/28/spanking.case.ap/index.html

Jury awards spanked employee $500K
Alarm company says it was part of a team-building exercise

Friday, April 28, 2006; Posted: 3:57 p.m. EDT (19:57 GMT)

(AP) -- 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 was subjected to sexual harassment and sexual battery when she was paddled two years ago at Alarm One Inc., a home security company in Fresno.

The jury, however, said that Orlando did not suffer from sexual assault as she had alleged.

Orlando, 53, had asked for at least $1.2 million in lost wages, medical costs and damages.

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 alarm 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.
After attorney and taxes that's still a nice payout. I would have thought something around 200k would have been more apprpriate.

[MahiMike]

There once was a woman whose sales
Were not quite as good as the males.
So they gave her a spanking
And now she is banking
On sending her bosses to jails.

FAX

HAHAHA!!! Rack 'im! :clap:

[FAX]

After attorney and taxes that's still a nice payout. I would have thought something around 200k would have been more apprpriate.

The defendants will surely appeal and this award will be ultimately reduced to less than half, I would imagine, Mr. BIG_DADDY.

This makes a good story, but the size of the damages is going to be fairly small by the time it's all over, probably. Much more in line with your number, I would think.

FAX

[jiveturkey]

A key issue is Orlando's credibility. She has testified that she is a recovering prescription drug addict who has been arrested twice on suspicion of shoplifting.

They admit to the retard practice of spanking employees but they're going to prove that she's a liar??? I don't get it.

[Simplex3]

This sounds like an extreme variation of the 'Steak and Beans Dinner' contest.

The winning sales team eats steak at the awards dinner, the losing team eats beans.

I wonder if I could get sued because someone was 'humiliated'?

Luz
never thought of spanking...
S**t, I was humiliated by my small commission check. Give me $1.2M.

[Simplex3]

I don't understand you frickin tards. You just don't do that in the workplace period. They aren't your family and the assumption that a coworker is a friend, close enough to spank their naked ass in front of everyone else is absurd.
Who said anything about naked? They had their pants on.

[Simplex3]

They admit to the retard practice of spanking employees but they're going to prove that she's a liar??? I don't get it.
The big money ticket is all based on what she says about how she felt. If it's known that she's a liar the jury can assume she's lying about that.

As for the $500k award, WTF? I'm an enormous chump for going to work everyday and trying to earn a living. I need to just sue a bunch of people because it's uncomfortable for me to have to get up every day and go in to an office. It's humiliating when all these other people have private jets and s**t that I have to drive a Chrysler.

[sedated]

Orlando, 53, had asked for at least $1.2 million in lost wages, medical costs and damages.

what medical costs? did she spend a mil icing down her ass?



The jury, however, said that Orlando did not suffer from sexual assault as she had alleged.

:bravo: