To help enhance your viewing experience, each week I provide a critique of the action from an employment lawyer’s perspective. We also conduct a weekly “Are You Smarter Than a Lawyer?” Contest. Anyone who leaves a comment below identifying a legal issue that I missed will win a valuable prize.

Last Night’s Episode: Jury Duty

The Plot: Here’s NBC’sfficial description: ”Jim returns after being away for jury duty and a curious Dwight will not stop questioning him about the case; Angela and the Senator welcome their new baby.”

My Analysis:

1. Issue: Andy’s Stress Release
   Description: Andy forced the warehouse employees to stop working and clear out so that he could do a “stress-release dance” to the theme from Footloose. In addition to hurting productivity, Andy made a huge mess, imperiled worker safety (mostly his own), wasted company resources, made an inappropriate comment and committed a copyright violation that could have Kenny Loggins coming after the company.
   Risk: $$$$
2. Issue: Lies, Lies and More Lies
   Description: As we discussed in our most recent webinar, dishonesty is the #1 way to get fired fast. Jim lied about being on jury duty. Andy lied about Jim lying (and about no one ever lying to him before). The lies continued to pile up as they both engaged in an attempted cover-up. Dwight conducted an “investigation” that followed none of our patented Investigation Tips contained in our 2012 Employment Law Tool Box. The company should conduct an actual investigation with a real HR person and fire them both. In addition, Angela lied about her baby’s due date (and possibly, its paternity).
   Risk: $$$$
3. Issue: Don’t Touch
   Description: Andy gave Jim an over-the-top hug and strange handshake when Jim returned the the office. He later slapped Jim as punishment (after telling him that he was in “deep doo-doo”) for his jury duty lies. Touching employees is never a good idea (especially if you’re Andy).
   Risk: $$
4. Issue: Emotional Distress
   Description: Stanley, Phyllis, Darryl and others expressed that they suffered various levels of distress due to Jim’s prolonged absence. The value of their claims was diminished when they later encouraged Jim to leave work to care for his kids.
   Risk: $
5. Issue: Defamation
   Description:  Dwight made several defamatory comments about Jim (including calling him a “pervert”) and Toby (“the most forgettable man on the planet”). Dwight also made multiple public pronouncements proclaiming that he is the father of Angela’s baby, which may not be true. Virtually everyone who saw Angela’s baby made a disparaging comment about him.
   Risk: $$
6. Issue: Inappropriate Comments
   Description: Andy made comments about his and Jim’s posteriors. Stanley made a comment about Jim’s posterior. Kevin, Oscar, Ryan, Phyllis and Angela made inappropriate race/national origin-based comments. Gabe made a creepy comment about the maternity ward. Kevin called Erin “bimbo.” Erin called Kevin “himbo.” Kevin and Erin made potentially unlawful comments about obesity. Dwight made multiple inappropriate comments to Angela while contending that he’s the baby’s father.
   Risk: $$$
7. Issue: Gambling
   Description: Erin and others may have violated state anti-gambling laws by conducting a baby pool.
   Risk: $$
8. Issue: Dwight on NCIS?
   Description: Jim tricked Dwight into traveling across the country to perform as an extra on NCIS. Jim (and possibly the company) could be on the hook for travel and other expenses/damages.
   Risk: $$
9. Issue: Invasion of Privacy
   Description: Oscar, Kevin, Erin and Gabe charged into Angela’s hospital room with video cameras rolling, potentially creating invasion of privacy and other claims.
   Risk: $$
10. Issue: Drug References
    Description: Andy made Dwight take an imaginary “chill pill.” It seemed to work — temporarily. Angela made a reference to drugs at a “James Taylor concert.”
    Risk: $$
11. Issue: Corruption of Minors
    Description: Kevin bought Angela’s newborn a violent Call of Duty video game. Jim and Pam brought their kids into the office solely to make everyone feel sympathy for them. They made their daughter lie about artwork she didn’t create, which resulted in her sobbing uncontrollably.
    Risk: $$$
12. Issue: Breach of Confidentiality
    Description: Approximately 0.8 seconds after promising Angela he wouldn’t disclose that Angela’s baby was born out of wedlock, Oscar disclosed that information to Dwight who kept the secret for approximately 0.7 seconds.
    Risk: $$
13. Issue: Interference with Medical Care
    Description: Dwight attempted to interfere with the baby’s circumcision.
    Risk: $$
14. Issue: Fire Hazard
    Description: Dwight smoked a cigar in the workplace and then extinguished it in a highly unsafe manner. Andy observed Dwight’s actions but did nothing.
    Risk: $$$
15. Issue: Theft of Company Time
    Description: Once again, no employees did any discernible work.
    Risk: $$

In last week’s webinar, we asked our 3,423 viewers a series of questions to see how you’re really using social media.

Here was our first question …

More than two-thirds (67%) now use a SM tool. That’s a slight dip from last quarter’s 71% (the highest ever in our quarterly index) but still up quite a bit over the previous quarter’s 58%.

That led to our next question …

This is where things got a little surprising. After reigning as the undisputed heavyweight SM champion in every one of our quarterly indices going back to the beginning of time, Facebook (26%) appears to have suddenly stumbled to fall behind LinkedIn (51%) as the go-to tool in the business world.

Also interesting was the fact that in only two months on the Index, Google Plus has jumped from nothing to a fairly substantial 18%. Much of that appears to have come at the expense of Facebook. (As you’ve probably noticed, there’s quite a bit of anti-Facebook backlash percolating in the SM universe. The news this morning that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg could reap as much as $28 billion in Facebook’s IPO could fan the flames even more.)

Almost no one uses anything other than three as their primary tool. YouTube and Twitter are both hovering around 2%.

So, how much time are you spending on SM? Here’s what you said …

The results were rather surprising (at least to me):

• One-third of you spend a grand total of zero minutes each week using SM @ work.
• The most popular answer was 1-30 minutes, capturing another third or so.
• Less than one-fifth spend more than an hour a week on SM.
• Approximately one-tenth spend 3 or more hours on SM, with 1% spending more than 10 hours. Yikes.

Social Media Freaking You Out?

In our pre-webinar survey, confusion over social media rules was repeatedly named as a top concern. For all the latest legal developments in that area, check out our webinar replay and our handy 2012 Employment Law Tool Box, which includes a sample social media policy courtesy of the fine folks at McGuire Woods LLP.

As always, thanks for your participation. Stay tuned for more on the latest trends affecting the wonderful world of workplace law.

Courtney was the first astute observer to identify “Bring Lady GaGa to Work Day” as the fake holiday. Believe it or not, the rest are very real. Click here for the full list.

Thanks for your participation — enjoy the rest of the month!