Prank Case

Published June 23, 2012

A prison guard fired after an episode in the prison sued his employer and lost. Here’s what happened, as one legal blogger put it:

[A] Franklin County jail guard, while delivering bologna sandwiches to inmates, asked an inmate to place his penis on a sandwich, took [a] cell phone photo of said penis sandwich, and fed said sandwich (sans penis) to another unsuspecting inmate while taunting him.

The employer, Franklin County, Ohio, defended on the grounds this was not within the scope of the guard’s employment. The guard argued it was just a joke and that jokes were commonplace.

The court was not amused. It dismissed the case.

Source: Jon Hyman, “Even terminations over ‘genitalia sandwiches’ can generate lawsuits,” Labor & Employment group of Kohrman Jackson & Krantz, May 23, 2012 h/t lowering the bar