Thank god for damage caps. No matter how well intentioned, throwing a
“welcome back” party for your Mexican-American employee by decorating the break room with piñatas, paper sombreros and streamers in the colors of the Mexican flag is not a good idea. Ever. Under no set of circumstances. Sure, Michael (and the party planning committee) meant well, but that is not going to be enough to
get Dunder Mifflin out of this one....

If an executive learns that a regional manager has sponsored a bachelor
party in the warehouse, hired a stripper, offered to “deflower” the bride, taken
an employee to a sex store, received a lap dance, and allowed a pervert dressed
up like Benjamin Franklin to make a lewd statement to the receptionist, she
should fire him. As soon as possible. Anything else and the company is looking
at significant liability. Of course, at Dunder Mifflin, Jan is likely caught in
a Catch-22. As soon as she fires Michael, she could be facing a charge for her
own conduct in having an affair with her subordinate. Ah, what a tangled web we
weave….

My grandmother always said that the road to hell is paved with good
intentions. I never knew exactly what she meant. Until now. Michael’s diversity
training, well intentioned as it may have been, provides ample evidence of
discriminatory bias against employees of Indian descent in general and of Kelly
in particular. Indeed, Michael’s PowerPoint on famous Indians includes only
three people — one of whom is the fictional character Apu from The
Simpsons....

I’d say that Martin (“the Convict”) Nash has a damn good race
discrimination case. First his boss publicly humiliates him by announcing that
he is a convict, and then, during the same speech, asks his co-workers to name
trustworthy people so he can identify an African-American whom he trusts more.
Who does he name? Danny Glover (whom he trusts more than Pam’s dad); Colin
Powell (whom he trusts more than Justin Timberlake) and Apollo Creed (whom he
trusts more than Jesus)....

It would be pretty safe to say that any time a company’s regional manager
asks a female employee to act out a lesbian love scene during its
anti-harassment training you have problems. Expensive problems....