Getting Coffee For The Boss

So an employee got fired for complaining about having to get her bosses coffee. And then sued for a hostile and discriminatory work environment.

She lost (here's the article in www.philly.com), but certainly created a problem for her former employer.

The best way to deal with this problem - like most problems - is to get in front of it before anything gets out of hand.

For example, the written job description should always include a section that says, "...and all other duties as required by management." And it wouldn't hurt in the job interview to mention that bringing coffee to the boss is considered part of the job.

As for me - I'm fully capable of getting my own coffee every day, and would rather have by associates working that making me a latte.

The fired employee plans to appeal - but one of her quotes was really significant: "...they had no idea that I needed that job as much as I did..."