Denied Work From Home While Pregnant: The HR Case That Cost TQL $22M

This week on Jaded HR, we dive into an HR nightmare that somehow checks every single box of what NOT to do.

A pregnant employee. A doctor’s note. A simple work-from-home request.
And a company that said… “nah, come into the office.”

What happened next? A $22 million lawsuit that has HR professionals, employment lawyers, and workplace experts all asking the same question: what were they thinking?

We break down the now-viral case involving Total Quality Logistics and unpack the real-world implications around:

• Pregnancy accommodations in the workplace
• Remote work policies vs. medical necessity
• HR compliance, FMLA, and legal risk
• How rigid company culture can backfire (spectacularly)

Along the way, we also get into:

• Why “HR is here to protect the company” isn’t always the slam dunk people think it is
• The dangers of blindly following policy without using actual human judgment
• And yes… somehow TikTok HR advice catches a stray (as it should)

If you’re in Human Resources, leadership, or just enjoy a good corporate cautionary tale, this episode is equal parts insight, frustration, and “you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Because sometimes protecting the company… means not handing someone a $22M reason to sue you.

🎧 Listen now for real talk on HR mistakes, workplace law, pregnancy discrimination, remote work, and how common sense isn’t always that common.

Transcript

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Explicit Warning And Cold Open

Announcer 0:01

Had you actually read the email, you would know that the podcast you are about to listen to could contain explicit language and offensive content. These HR experts' views are not representative of their past, present, or future employers. If you've ever heard, my manager is unfair to me, I need you to reset my HR portal password, or get I right up my employee for crying too much, welcome to our little stable. Welcome to Jaded HR

Meet The Hosts And Catch Up

Warren 0:30

Welcome to J the HR the podcast by two HR professionals who want to help you get through your workday by saying everything you're thinking, but say it out loud. I'm Warren.

Cee Cee 0:56

I'm Cee Cee'

Warren 1:00

The world is changing so much, and everything's just going so crazy and sideways and backwards everything. Every two weeks it seems like we talked so much has happened in like the universe and everything. And this these last two weeks have not been any different at all.

Cee Cee 1:17

So and unfortunately, I made it all through winter without getting sick, and I officially so I sound nasally and stuffy. That's why. We had 40 degree weather, and then we had a weekend of 85 degree weather, and now we're back to 40 degrees. And I think that's just what killed it. So I'm just nursing a stupid cold.

Warren 1:42

Exactly. We had the same thing. Two weeks ago, I was out, I washed all three of my cars and washed and waxes. It was 85 degrees. I'm like, yes, let's do this, let's do this.

Cee Cee 1:53

And wear a tank top.

Warren 1:54

Today only I'm not doing tank top material, but I was washing cars. I got a sunburn and got yelled at by my wife for not while wearing a hat and sunscreen. But it felt so good. But now today it was only in the 40s, and you know, tomorrow is only gonna be in the 40s. I'm like, jeez. I'm not necessarily ready for that mid-80s, but I I'm I with the nice weather again.

Cee Cee 2:17

It was so nice. It was crazy. I left the house without a coat. It was nice.

Warren 2:22

Oh yeah. And my my daughter sent me a meme she found somewhere, but last week in Salt Lake City, the daily temperature every day last week in Salt Lake was higher than in Miami. Because they've been in the mid-80s all last week. So

Grocery Stores And Taylor Swift Stats

Warren 2:40

Yeah. It's crazy. Oh I told you offline some of the things I'm doing with our episodes and our transcripts and trying to put some things together. I didn't realize until I'm looking at the transcripts and diving and things. Okay. We talk a hell of a lot about grocery stores. And we talked a hell of a lot about Taylor Swift.

Cee Cee 3:04

What is happening? I don't remember talking that much about Taylor Swift.

Warren 3:09

Oh yeah. And so many of our titles, even the one, the title out you weren't doing the show at the time. But I said one of the titles was, and I wasn't even thinking about Taylor Swift was play stupid games, win stupid prizes, and then we talked about the the engagement and yeah, Taylor Taylor Swift has come up more times than I ever would have thought.

Cee Cee 3:32

If you asked me to put money on it and say like what the top two things were coming up, or like what was Taylor Swift not have been on there. Are we at Taylor Swift's podcast now?

Warren 3:43

I should maybe that's how we could get more trail things. No, it's not I wouldn't say it's in the top ten, but it it just stood out to me that grocery stores and Taylor Swift came up. And it may not be direct reference to Taylor Swift, like the episode I did a few weeks ago, HR haters gonna hate, hate, hate, you know, just little things like that. But our name is mentioned a few times too. I was just like, oh, that's I didn't realize how much it came up.

Cee Cee 4:11

I love it.

Warren 4:11

Yeah, interesting stuff, but I've got some game plans in store for season seven, which starts in two weeks. What is he? So I did not come prepared with any real material, but I know you sent a story, and I've seen it. It's been everywhere. But after you sent it to me first, and I've seen it everywhere since

High Risk Pregnancy And Denied WFH

Warren 4:35

so go ahead and light that firecracker.

Cee Cee 4:38

Oh my gosh. So I got a little heated, and I am gonna preface this because I'm probably a little more biased and a little more sensitive to this topic because I have gone through pregnancy loss. So if I start to get unhinged, just reel me back and bring me back to that's good podcasting.

Warren 4:59

So have some tequila before you start.

Cee Cee 5:01

Oh my gosh. Yeah, where's my where's my whiskey? Where's my bourbon? Yeah, so like like this like hit a really ridiculous amount of like news channels and stuff just because I think of the topic and also the company itself. But unfortunately for me, this is a local company. So they are, you know, they're literally 20 minutes away from my house. This is TQL Total Quality Logistics, and they are in Cincinnati, Ohio. And they had an employee who started working there and she was pregnant and she had a high-risk pregnancy. She did go through a pregnancy-related procedure, and she was classified as high risk by her doctor. Her doctor gave her clear medical instructions, a modified bed rest, limited physical activity, and work from home. So, just as an HR professional, Warren, what would you have done in this situation? Just as an employee who comes in and says high risk, and this is what my doctor said, what would you have done?

Warren 6:10

Have fun at who?

Cee Cee 6:12

Yes, that should have been yes. Um this, unfortunately, they did not. That was not what they said. So they gave her an option because they really wanted everyone to return to work. And it was policy that people had to work in the office. So they gave her two options, which was return to the office, or you can take your leave, which, as we know, will affect income and benefits for the time when she actually does have her baby, because we don't have maternity leave in America. That's up to the company. So she made the choice to maintain her job and income, and she went to the office. And I guess what had happened after that was she went to the office. She was only there for, I want to say two days or something when they said, just kidding, we changed our mind. You can work from home. But unfortunately, I believe on that same day as she was at the office, she went into preterm labor. She had the baby very early. And unfortunately, the baby had passed away. So she sued for wrongful death against TQL for her denial of a work from home that interfered with her medical care. And that their decision reduced the chances of baby survival. Unfortunately, for TQL, the jury found that TQL had a majority responsibility in the situation, and they did award her $22 million.

Warren 8:00

After you sent that story to me, it all of a sudden it's like it popped everywhere for me. Yeah. John Hyman, they made their list. I can't remember specifically which one, but at least one of the employment law blogs I subscribe to and get in my email was talking about it. I understand employers wanting people to come in and work in the office. I can understand that. But if someone's got a legitimate reason and it's not gonna break the company's back for someone to work from home and it all indications were there was nothing preventing her from working from home that that I saw in the stories. If that's the case, just go work from home, take care of yourself, do what you've got to do. Especially we're not talking about somebody who has and I I'm gonna be very mean here, but the mysterious back problems that can never be diagnosed, so they need to work at home. And things like it she's got she had a surgical procedure, as you mentioned, like three days before or something, and was told to go on bed or work from home. Yeah. I just I don't understand that mentality. Well, I wonder who was the decision maker that said no. Now, there's two things. Was it that very low-level HR newbie admin person who's you know doesn't know how to knows what the policy is but doesn't know how to apply it? Because I had this discussion recently through my umpire career, you have umpires who umpire by the rules and umpires who umpire with the rules. And the by the rules, people they can regurgitate every rule in the whole code book and all that other fun stuff, and they will enforce that to the letter and like be umpire with the rules, you're not deviating, but you're just taking the situation, you're taking the bigger picture into play. And yeah, just so it was either I can imagine that that low-level admin who, oh, this is what my boss told me, and was doing what they were told. They're not, I wouldn't say doing anything wrong, but they haven't experienced enough to use their own discretion, right, or ask more questions, or bring it up that hey, you know, Susie came to us and she's having this problem. I think we should discuss it, you know. She just regurgitated whatever rules were forced fed to her, or him in that case, or you had somebody who is just a rules Nazi. You know, they know the situation, they know the deal, but no, this is our policy, and this is the way we're gonna do it. Hell or high water. And they found hell.

Cee Cee 10:41

Yeah, they did. I think we were talking a little off-air about this before. Some of the things that I saw when I was scrolling through social media and the keyboard warriors out there, a lot of people were putting blame on the woman. And they said, Well, if I was in that position, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't sacrifice my health for a job. So it was kind of her fault, or like I would have walked away. And I think that people tend to forget, we don't know individuals' financial situations. We don't know if losing this job would have been meant losing her house on top of being pregnant. I mean, it's difficult. It's difficult to make these decisions. And I would say shame on the company for making her choose between her well-being and her paycheck. And I think that's where I get a little ruffled. And another thing I want to say is I might get a little a little spicy here, but I don't think that people really respect pregnancy in that it's freaking hard. Like, I know people get very flippant about it, like, oh, I mean, we've been they've been having babies since the dawn of time. It's no big deal. But it's freaking hard. And I mean, I have friends, I have a friend who had preclampsia and almost had a stroke while giving birth. I have another friend who the doctor was like, if you get pregnant one more time, you are literally gonna die. It takes an incredible toll on someone's health, their mind, their body. If a pregnant person on your team is asking for an accommodation as simple as work from home, that's not gonna cost you money, because by everything that I read, it didn't seem like it would have cost much money for her to just take her laptop home. I think that you just need to let them do it because a lot of people, women might make it look easy, but it's not freaking easy. And you just need to give some people grace and you need to give them space and give them freedom and give them some ability to do their job well while they're taking care of themselves. It's not rocket science.

Warren 12:55

It isn't so HR confession time here. Very early in my career, the first time I like FMLA administration falls into my lap, I was letting women who are coming back from pregnancy come back without a return to work notice. And I was like, oh, they they just had a baby, you know, and not just as and time-wise, they only, you know, that was in my that was going through my mind. And my manager at the time says, Warren, no, you know, if it's not the 1800s anymore, people still die from we don't know if they had complications. We don't know the rest of the story. And if their doctor, because uh part of these doctor's orders the opposite of what happened here, you know, if they want to come back to work when they shouldn't come back to work, and I've seen it not pregnant only pregnancy-wise, I've seen all sorts of things where they're not cleared to come back to work, but they want to come back to work, you know, if the doctor is saying, No, you still need to be at home because whatever complication you may or may not have had, you know, and I never thought of it that way. And since that manager she told me now, Warren, you need to be getting return-to-work notices for everything, including pregnancies, I wasn't thinking, you know, it's not like you just had back surgery or something like that, you know, uh in my immature mind at the time. And

Common Sense Beats Rigid Policy

Warren 14:20

it really her told me that no pregnancy is real and it causes issues. And I should have known better. I think I at least had one child by the time this was happening. I should have known better, but I didn't think that way. But my that one conversation about me not doing my job is you know, but where where's whoever's returned to Brooklyn's? I didn't ask them for one, they were just pregnant.

Cee Cee 14:45

They just pregnant.

Warren 14:47

Yeah, they just had their baby. That changed my mindset. It was like, wow, that's okay. I never thought of it that way. And since then, I don't care if a pass now I don't carry to pass for everything. If you've been out on an extended term, you you need to have if it's required you to be out of work extendedly, you need to have a return-to-work notice because you don't know what even something as simple as, I don't know. Uh I had my gallbladder surgery last year. Maybe there was a complication in there. It's a routine thing. People they've removed gallbladders and appendixes and all that stuff all the time. Hell, once upon a time, a neighbor of mine actually died from having their an adult died from having their tonsils and adenoids removed. Uh it had a complication related to that. So you you just can't make assumptions. But so you know, that like I said, HR confession. I learned my lessons, but it made me think of it it as a completely different point of view.

Cee Cee 15:44

And honestly, I was like, I'm gonna be the first to say, like, you know, thankfully, I I joke about it, but I'm really not joking. I had the easiest pregnancy. I was, ooh, thanks. Cause I had a couple pregnancy losses before, and like my third one, thank God it's stuck. And I don't know what it was. I don't know if the universe was telling me, like, hey, you've been through it, so we're just gonna give you an easy one. I had a very easy pregnancy, but I will say, like, the only, I wouldn't even call it an accommodation, but I kind of will. Like my former company where I was pregnant at, it was very like cameras-on culture. And I was like, I need my cameras off. Like, cause there was times where I would just be like, I would feel completely fine, and then all of a sudden, I would just be like I would literally just like throw up. And it was just like, I'm like, I don't, I don't trust, and it was no warning, nothing. It was just I feel completely fine, and then all of a sudden, just like and I'm like, I need cameras off because I don't, I'm like a ticking time bomb. I don't know when it's gonna happen, I don't know what's gonna happen, but something's gonna come out of me. So but like but I'm just saying, like, and that was like an oh, of course, no problem. Like, we totally got it. But I I feel like if I came in with a doctor's note that said, hey, I need to like work from home, uh it would it would have been a 100% absolute whatever you need. And that was just the culture that we worked. And, you know, I feel horrible for this woman because like I said, I know what it feels like to go through a pregnancy loss. I don't know what it's like to that extent, but I would be seeing red if that I'm sorry, like I think TQL by not giving her her accommodation, they put themselves in the middle of this in a way that they didn't need to. And whether or not her going to the office caused the loss, we'll never know. Because we can't prove it did, and we really can't prove it didn't, though. And if they just gave her that accommodation, this would have been a completely different we wouldn't have never known. Like, right? Like they would have probably, I mean, I don't from what I hear about their culture, allegedly, I don't think they would have, but they could have put together a nice fruit basket or a nice condolences and sent it to her house, and she could have felt sad for her loss, but loved at work. And now she came out swinging, and I don't blame her. Honestly, I would have done the same damn thing. I would have lawyered up, and I don't blame her.

Warren 18:14

I was Sony off, Aaron. I I don't want to come across as an asshole for this, but the only thing that thought of my mind as I was reading it, it was two days. And, you know, she was only four months along in that pregnancy, so but just say yes. Just say yes. If they like I said, nothing would have come of it for the company. I would still never who know who TQL is. Their name would not ever have crossed my mind, and I would not know the first thing about them. So and I'm not the only one like that now. Hundreds and hundreds of if not thousands of people know about them, and it's you know it they just grab the dirty end of the stick. Just I gotta say I I just I I can't fathom what necessity and I don't know what her job is, but I I can't fathom what necessity is to make someone tell you must, must, must be in the office, even when the doctor has told you no. And that's another thing. Especially if you if she came to me, she I wouldn't ask for the doctor's note. I I you know, if she says I'm having a difficult preg uh pregnancy, uh high risk pregnancy, I need to work. I'm not probably gonna ask for the doctor's note to get you out at that point. Just okay, get out, you know, let's uh talk to their manager about everything that's going on and get the heck out. Yeah. Go home. And and that's it. I just I I don't know. Life doesn't have to be this difficult.

Cee Cee 19:48

Does it? And here's the other thing, because I will say that, you know, allegedly, allegedly, allegedly, um, from what I hear from people who either work or have worked for TQL, it's not a great culture. It's very old school. Um, there is that controlling piece of like, yes, you need to come to the office because if you're not in the office, we don't really believe you're working. And it's just very hustle culture. So I think that especially if you're going through the social media posts, they are getting ripped to shreds, not only from people who are just like reading the article and have an opinion, but people who have worked there. I think the funniest is when I see people who are like, thank God I got denied for that job there. Like, thank God I got rejected there for that accounting position. Because there's a lot of those actually, like, thank God I didn't get chosen to work there. Oh, and it's just funny that they probably put like all these basketball hoops and picnic tables outside to entice people to come back to the office, and then you pull shit like this. And I I really do think like it's it's a really bad mark on their reputation as a company and a culture, and yeah.

Warren 21:00

Well, it it's been in several articles, and we're talking about how they came about to change their mind two days later. Yeah, the husband knew or the wife knew somebody at CQL at the high level VPC level, I don't remember exactly where, and said, Hey, by the way, or or the husband's company's HR. There was some relationship, I can't remember what it was.

Cee Cee 21:25

Yeah, it's the husband's company's HR person he's close with, and he asked her for her advice, and apparently she knows a VP at TQL, and she like let them know, and he was like, Oh God, thank you for saving us from a lawsuit.

Warren 21:43

Just a couple days late, 22 million dollars short. Yeah, this yeah, and so somebody at that high level had some common sense and was probably ready to take action, but it's just awful it is awful. Nothing.

Cee Cee 21:58

I feel bad for I fear. Like they are going to appeal it. And I fear that when they appeal it, it's probably going

Reputation Fallout And Appeal Talk

Cee Cee 22:05

to go to a judge, not a jury. The jury of peers found TQL liable. I'm afraid that a judge is going to see it. And let's be honest, judges are a little more on the they play a little more in the political field. I'm not going to be surprised if this is dropped at the appeal.

Warren 22:25

I have mixed feelings towards that. I can see it completely both ways. What the judge is going to do, what a judge may do or how it handles. But I don't think, you know, with an appeal, as long as the the rules of the court were followed and there wasn't anything wrong, I don't think that until there's something that hey, attorneys did wrong, judges did wrong, somebody, police did well, investigators or whoever did wrong, I don't think they can really turn it. I don't know how all that works. But yeah, you know, and at that point you've lost. Take the L. Go home. Take the L. And and just and try and fix your image. Try and fix your image. I mean damage control time.

Cee Cee 23:10

All I can say is that it is a privately owned company, and I do know the CEO and the founder, he's worth about a billion dollars. So allegedly. So I think that you just have to take the L and move forward, buddy.

Warren 23:23

Yeah.

Cee Cee 23:24

And that's and maybe connect with your CHRO and talk about policy.

Warren 23:31

Your new CHRO.

Cee Cee 23:34

Well, okay, I was I was joking very darkly last night. I was making some dark jokes, but the only thing I could think of is like, if I see like a benefit, because you know, I did I was scanning and I think I saw some emails going back and forth between the benefits team and the manager of the person and how it was the benefits team who basically said no, she can either take leave or come to the office. Those are her choices. And I'm like, if I in Cincinnati like saw a resume and their last job was like a benefits manager at TQL, I'm gonna have some questions.

Warren 24:08

Yeah. Exactly. If that's the case, and if that's the person who made that decision, they might deep six their own career, making themselves unmirable.

Cee Cee 24:18

And we also don't know, like it could also just be like the pressures of the higher ups and the policy and the culture that's bringing down, and maybe whoever the decision maker was was their hands were tied because that's just the water they swim in. I get that too. It's just a messy situation. I mean, at the end of the day, like we can talk about policy again and again, but I think we just need to remember the human factor of it all. Like, use use your common sense. And, you know, if in this case, I'm not a benefits person, but my common sense would say just give her the damn work from home accommodation.

Warren 24:55

Yeah. You're good, have a hard time. Now, if they're a line worker or something like that, obviously that can't be done. But obviously, there seems to be some aspect of her job that could have been done from home. So I it just you know, and you may want to have if you want to be full in office five days a week or something like that, that's fine. But when you get to an accommodation issue, that goes out the window. Okay. Yeah. You get to be an exception because of your situation. It's not because you are a slacker or we like you better, or we're showing favoritism to you. It's because you have a situation at Callsport. So even if your company culture and policy is yes, we're in the office every day, seven days a week, that you can have that policy, but you gotta be just see what's going on. These are common sense.

Cee Cee 25:47

Yeah.

Warren 25:47

The not so common common sense.

Cee Cee 25:49

The not-so common common sense. I say I I'm sorry for her loss, but good for her for winning. I think she deserved to win this one. I'm sorry. I think she does.

Warren 25:59

I can't disagree. Like, I can't disagree.

Cee Cee 26:03

And also, like, you know, I also go into like these HR forums where people or or not even HR forums, like, I love Reddit. So I'll go into the Reddit page and people be bitching about their job. And there's always like some person who brings an HR, and people are like, well, just remember, HR is there to protect the company, not you. And I'm like, yes, this is one of those cases where protecting the company also helps the employee. Like, that would have been a no-brainer for someone to be like, this smells like a possible lawsuit down the road. It's not gonna, and again, like we're assuming that this person did have a job where she was able to work from home. And everything I've read doesn't say anything to the opposite of that. So we're assuming that she could 100% her role was equipped to work from home. Like, shouldn't an HR person have been like, this smells fishy, this smells dangerous, let's just let her work from home for a few months before her leave. End of freaking story. Like, that would have been protecting the company, but someone didn't do it.

Warren 27:01

Or even if they ask the question, hey, here's this person's situation. Are we sure we want to do that? You know, yeah. Why ask the questions? That yeah, just ask the questions.

Cee Cee 27:17

That's stupid. Just use your common sense and think with your human brain, not with your policy brain.

Warren 27:25

Well, you started going you were talking about your travels down Reddit.

TikTok HR Advice And Half Truths

Cee Cee 27:30

Yes.

Warren 27:30

I I wasn't gonna talk about to but it you made it pop into my squirrely brain. Two weeks ago when we talked, I went online to look for the McDonald's video.

Cee Cee 27:41

Oh my god, yes.

Warren 27:42

First, McDonald's has removed it, so I could only see stitches where people stitched it together with their videos, and some of those were oh gosh, awesome. Yeah, some of them were really, really awesome. And I I had a good time, but uh the the the social media source I use, believe it or not, I am on TikTok. I that's my least favorite of all social media, but a few months ago I clicked to subscribe to my children. My children post on TikTok regularly. I like to see what's going on in their lives and their world. So I started by watching a video of my son. Okay, this video should have gone viral. He goes to Chick-fil-A, and I don't know if this is a thing that kids are doing on TikTok now, but he's recording himself placing his order to the live Chick-fil-A person and drive through, and he's singing his order to it. It's funny. But he goes, No, no, no, I just want something like that. But if he wasn't busting out laughing the whole time, it would be really direble. But that's what started me, and I saw one of my daughter, and then I just start doom scrolling on TikTok. And I don't know how TikTok got me there. Well, then I said, Oh, since I'm on TikTok, I'll look up McDonald's video. So I saw all these, like I said, I saw an article. McDonald's like yanked that shit. It was, I think it was gone like instantly. They yanked it, but I saw all the stitches, and I'm still going through Doom scrolling. The next thing after all these McDonald's videos I get, and I don't know how they know about me, because all my time on TikTok combined before last two weeks ago, one hour, maybe, maybe two hours of scrolling on TikTok. It was my least favorite. If I just started Doom scrolling, next thing you know, I'm getting HR talk.

Cee Cee 29:38

Hey, no, that TikTok algorithm, it's creepy. I shut my account down just because like I'm over the app, but that TikTok algorithm, it knows. So you're on HR now, it's found you.

Warren 29:52

It's found me, and I'm going through all these HR experts and plaintiff spar attorneys talking about things like FMLA and talking about leave. And I'm like, oh my gosh, there's just so much bullshit and lies, and and the a whole HR isn't your friend. I I kid you not, I was on TikTok till one in the morning, and then apparently TikTok gives you a video if you've been doom schooling for too long. Hey, shouldn't you be doing something else? Uh yeah, I was like, oh, and I look and watch, I was like, holy shit, it's past 1 a.m. So, but I I went down the HR talk rabbit hole and kept getting these just even looking at these people, and I don't like judge people. Well, I do judge I'm I'm an 80s kid, I judge the hell out of everybody, but these sleazy shyster looking clean spar attorneys talking about you can get money if this and that, and then if they tell you this, and it's just like and I'm like, there's so many half-truths and all these other things. If your HR is telling you this, don't ever go to HR if you have this. Talk to your attorney before you talk to HR. And oh, uh, I had a headache, and I'm I was getting angry and frustrated, but I kept scrolling, I kept scrolling, and it was just one I got nothing else for like after I got into that FMLA and all these other things, uh how to talk to how to record your manager talking to you, uh type things. And I just I was just getting so uh frustrated, but what was frustrating me is this is where the uh Gen Z they're getting their information from. Yeah, and they think that these people you know, I'm an HR manager of 20 years of experience, and I tell let me tell you this, and it's bullshit. Yeah, and I I just got so frustrated with it, I kept scrolling and kept scrolling like I said before then you could count my entire TikTok time in just a few hours of time because watching my stupid kids' videos. But then I while I was there, I searched the and somehow I went from McDonald's to HR. I don't know how I got there because I shouldn't have much of a history algorithms or history for HR or for anything in TikTok. I I follow like four accounts, maybe five, and that's it. No, but I did find it keeps recommending an old account I created once upon a time. I don't even know the logins or keeps trying to recommend me to me as a follow. Like I I don't even why would I follow an account that I opened years and years ago when I don't even know the login or anything?

Cee Cee 32:43

Don't you remember? Yeah, I it's your past, it's calling you.

Warren 32:47

Yeah, but yeah, I was just blown away. But going back to those McDonald's spoofs and stitches, oh my gosh. Some of them I was just weak. The people making fun of it and the SpongeBob. There were so many related to Spongebob. I could, what's up with Spongebob? Oh, even in the HR talk stuff, I was saying Spongebob. Spongebob must be making a research.

Cee Cee 33:08

No, Gen Z loves Spongebob.

Warren 33:10

Okay.

Cee Cee 33:11

Yeah, that's that's their thing. I feel like that was probably big when they were like younger.

Warren 33:17

I liked watching it with my children when they were the age appropriate for SpongeBob. I do still say three hours later.

Cee Cee 33:25

Three hours later.

Warren 33:27

Yeah. Talking to my wife about maybe my mother. I should be able to do three minutes is three hours later. But yeah. So yeah, that's just crazy, crazy, crazy.

Cee Cee 33:41

That's interesting that you brought that up though, that there's just like a lot of garbage on TikTok as far as people giving you their professional advice. And you're absolutely right. This is where a lot of people are getting their information from. And it's just very it's just not good. Like, don't, don't listen. If you learned it on TikTok, take it with a grain of salt. And it's funny that you say that because my husband was like, Oh, it's like he saw this thing on the internet where it was like, Oh, it's a hack to clean your air fryer. You just fill your basket of water and put soap in it and like let it run. And I'm like, Are you fucking for real? There's an open electrical heating element in there. You're just gonna put water in there and just let it go. And I'm like, this is a horrible who gave you this advice. Some 20-year-old who's never worked before or who's never like had their own kitchen or appliances before, probably thought of this as a genius hack. And like, I'm like, this is you're gonna like short circuit everything.

Warren 34:39

Best case scenario, don't don't electrocute yourself. I just in any video, regardless of the name. My uncle taught me this. A lifeguard taught me this. Whatever. If something starts with that, I'm not even going that way.

Cee Cee 34:53

HR hates this one trick.

Warren 34:55

Yeah, I was like, oh kid. But of all the crap I saw, nothing was a hundred percent accurate. Being extremely generous, I would say there's some half-truths in there, you know. But especially the those plaintiffs bar attorneys, you know, don't talk to your lawyer, don't talk to HR about these things. And, you know, if you get called into a meeting and they don't give you an agenda, you need to reply and say, What's this about? What am I being asked for? And like, yeah, get your ass in here.

Cee Cee 35:24

In here, man. Like, stop stop falling asleep at your desk and go back to work. That's all we have to say.

Warren 35:29

Yeah, yeah.

Cee Cee 35:30

It's not that serious.

Warren 35:33

Yeah. I just oh gosh.

Cee Cee 35:37

I will say that um I I heard this made me laugh so much. I forget where I heard it. It was people used to play the lottery, waiting for their day to win and make all this money and live a great life. It's not the lottery anymore. People are waiting for their chance to sue a big company and get a big payout. And I was like, oh my god, that is so true. Like, people are I hate to say it,

Lawsuit Culture And Car Wreck Stories

Cee Cee 36:05

but people are looking for it. Like they're looking for opportunities to be letitious. So don't give them that opportunity by using common sense.

Warren 36:18

Yes. Yeah, it's exactly everybody going to sue somebody for something.

Cee Cee 36:24

That's that's I don't want to. That sounds like a lot of work. Just don't mess with me.

Warren 36:30

I've never been wronged to the point where I need to sue.

Cee Cee 36:34

I haven't either, thankfully. Knock on wood.

Warren 36:36

I mean I was rear-ended and told my had my car told it many years ago. Bye. Used to be, believe it or not, an employee of mine, and my personal employee, but in the company, whose license was suspended and did not have insurance, etc. And while we're on the side of the road, she's like, Don't I know you? I'm like, I don't know. Oh, you're a RHR person, aren't you? I'm like, oh yeah. But she didn't work, not through my doing, but she did not work there very much longer. But I did talk because before I worked there, I worked at a law firm, I did talk to a friend who was the attorney. He said, Look, if she can't afford car insurance, you can take her to court, you can get a judgment all day long. She can owe you $10 million, you're not going to see a dime, and you're still going to have to pay your attorney's fee. So he said, Do what you want to do. He goes, I'll take the case if you want me to. But he says, I'm telling you as a friend, if she can't afford insurance, she can't. You can get any judgment you want, you're not going to see a dime. Like, okay. I will trust her professional advice.

Cee Cee 37:42

Yeah. So I got rear-ended.

Warren 37:43

It's the only time I've talked to.

Cee Cee 37:44

I got rear-ended. Okay, so in Cincinnati, there's a part of 71. If you're from Cincinnati, you know it's called the Cut in the Hill because there's a cut in two hills, and you see the Cincinnati skyline, and it's really pretty. But it's also very infamous for sudden stops and traffic backups. So if you're like, ooh, pretty city, you could like, you know, hit the car in front of you. So that happened to me once. I was stopped standstill traffic, and all of a sudden, like I heard screeching, and I looked in the rearview mirror and I just saw a car coming to me, and I was like, oh shit. And I got hit. And it was like a very rundown car. And like I just remember, like, I didn't get out of the car or anything, but thank God it was in the Kentucky side. So Kentucky's a no fault state unless someone is a witness. And thankfully, this guy stayed behind and was a witness. Because I'm like, thank you. And then the cops got there and everything. But the guy made me laugh because it was like the witness came up to my car and he was just like, Here's my number. If you need to get in contact, I already told the police everything, but if you need to contact me, here's my number. And he goes, and by the way, like that guy had chicken nuggets all over the place because apparently he was like eating a 20-pack of chicken nuggets while he was driving, and then they just like flew all over the car. So I started laughing, but I was just like, whatever, just have your insurance pay my stuff. Like I didn't even get that bad of a like whiplat. I didn't get it. I wasn't hurt. My bumper was okay-ish. They fixed it on his dime through his insurance. I'm like, that's all I need. I don't need to make this more than it needs to be. Like, we don't need to be suing people.

Warren 39:17

Well, it it I my accident, the person who hit me, I was at a dead stop, and I saw her coming behind me, and I couldn't. The truck in front of me was at a dead stop, too. I put my hands in my lap and my head back against. I knew I had nowhere to go. I knew it was coming. And my car accordioned, and I got out and I was fine. I was barely sore the next day. But the lady in front of me, she gets out of the car, walks around, and next thing she gets back in her car. And by the time the police came, she's all oh I know. And the ambulance had to come for her and everything like that. I'm like, and I even told the cop, I said, dude, you know, my car took everything. She barely had a scratch my bumper in her big old truck. And I was like, she was just fine at the very beginning.

Cee Cee 39:59

You're like selling this woman out. You're like, nah, she's a faker.

Warren 40:02

Yeah, oh, but make it worse, the person had hit me without a license, without insurance, and she also got written up for speeding and failure to pay attention. She got like 10 things. The state trooper who wrote the citation didn't show up to court, so everything was dismissed. I'd be pissed. Oh, I was so pissed that me, I was hot to try for a while.

Cee Cee 40:28

Yeah.

Warren 40:28

And one of my baseball empiring friends was a captain in the Virginia State Police for that region, and he got my opinions and everything like those. He said, Well, he could have you know been called away at case. I said, I don't care. You know, this lady in her, she had a you know, uh court records online. I found everything. She had her license suspended for a reason, and that's a whole another thing. Uh yeah. So I think uh gone

Season Seven Tease And Thanks

Warren 41:00

all over the place as usual. So please, please, please join us uh next in two weeks, our first episode in April 4, our seventh anniversary special. Going to be doing some new things and changing some things up a little bit and some good ideas, I think, for the next year or so and see how it goes. And looking forward to yet another fun year of jaded HR. Oh, I did not give the thank yous to Andrew Culpa, the voice artist, the underscore orchestra, they used the song Devil the Double, and our Patreon supporters, Hallie, the original Jaded HR rock star, Bill and Mike. So thank you all very, very much. So as always, I'm Horrid. And we're here helping you survive HR one what the fuck moment at a time.