Don’t Work Too Hard – You Could Get Fired

Not if you're a lawyer, probably, but certainly if you work for Banana Republic. Andrea Shettleworth, a sales associate at BR, was disciplined by her employer for bossing around her colleagues on the sales floor and yelling at them, hogging sales, giving away unauthorised discounts and working off the clock (that is, punching out for a break but working through it). Shettleworth received several warnings about her behaviour and was dismissed after the final one. She filed a human rights complaint, alleging that BR's monitoring and disciplinary action were based on her racial origin and were a reprisal for her claims, while still employed, that the employer had failed to deal adequately with an alleged assault on her by a co-worker. (Who'd have thought that folding sweaters created such workplace tensions?)