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I’ve been doing this employment law thing for many years now. It’s gotten to the point where little surprises me anymore.
Yeah, about that.
On Monday, Jon Hyman blogged about this recent federal court opinion at the Ohio Employer Law Blog in a post entitled, “The 1st nominee for the ‘worst employer of 2019’ is … the philandering pharmacist.”
How bad could this employer allegedly be? Well, let’s all pick up our pearls for clutching and read from the court’s opinion together, shall we?
At first glance, [the employer] appears to be your typical pharmacy—until you see the allegations that [the plaintiff] and other employees who worked there (1) had to line up and kiss … the owner—on the mouth as a prerequisite to receive their paychecks; (2) received spankings from [the owner] as a form of discipline and sexual gratification; (3) observed displays of nudity by [the owner]; and more. [Plaintiff] worked at the Pharmacy for over a decade, and over time, she reportedly developed high blood pressure, severe anxiety, and depression from [the owner’s] antics. One day in March 2017, [Plaintiff] even had to seek urgent medical treatment because of these issues—and her doctor told her that she had a spike in her blood pressure and needed to “go home and rest.” But when [Plaintiff] returned to work four days later, the Pharmacy terminated her employment—allegedly because of her medical inability to work.
Great Googly Moogly!
Jon suggested that these allegations would be tough to top.
But, there are two sides to every story and, in an interview with Newsweek, the owner of the Pharmacy disputed the plaintiff’s claims:
“This is just crazy,” Joyce Fogleman told Newsweek in an interview. “I’m not going to address any of it.”
But one by one, Fogleman, who is respected in the community, dispelled the accusations that she claims are being created by a “disgruntled employee.”
The lip-kissing lines?
“Totally bogus, bogus, bogus, bogus,” she said. “Just ridiculous.”
Corporal punishments in the form of spankings?
“Ridiculous also,” Fogleman stressed. “Never happened. I don’t even know where this is coming from!”
The owner chuckled after being reminded of [Plaintiff’s] assertion that as the boss she stripped at the pharmacy and elsewhere.
“That would be funny,” she quipped. “Absolutely not.”
As to why [Plaintiff] was let-go (the ex-employee claimed she was terminated as a form of retribution after airing objections to Fogleman’s “antics”) — the owner attempted to correct the record.
“She was not fired,” Fogleman said.
I’m gonna grab my popcorn now and follow this case as it winds its way through discovery.