Four Lawsuits from the Future

Any HR person goes to enough legal update seminars to hear about lawsuits that have happened within the past year. And the shocking results prove that stupid people can continue to be stupid and remain employed.

So I’m trying to break out the crystal ball and see what the future of lawsuits look like. Here’s four that I’m waiting for…

A single (legally unmarried), healthy employee with no kids sues because she/he feels like - or has been ordered to - stay late at work while less-than-healthy, married, and employees that are parents get to leave work at 5pm.

A non-smoking employee sues their employer because the smoking employee gets paid the same, yet gets to take six ten-minute smoke breaks per day while the non-smoker works. Damages: 250 hours of pay (per year this has gone on), plus interest.

An employee getting fired sues for damages because – while not eligible for FMLA – would have been within three months, and they get fired.

A salaried, healthy employee sues for back wages because an FMLA co-workers misses an average of 10 hours of work per week, and the healthy-salaried employee has been having to make up for it. No raise. No promotion. Just more work. More hours.