Corpun file 17599

Watertown Daily News, New York, 17 April 2006

Woman pleads innocent to abuse charges involving young girls

CANTON, N.Y. -- A former Brownie leader has been charged with abusing five young girls -- including three members of her troop -- by spanking them and making them swallow shampoo.

Authorities in Saint Lawrence County in northern New York say 39-year-old Marlene Herne of Massena has been indicted on numerous counts of felony sexual abuse for the acts that took place between 2003 and 2005.

Police in Massena say Herne would discipline the girls by making them drink hot sauce and forcing them to endure enemas using a baster. Other allegations include that she spanked the girls with her bare hands and a wooden paddle on their bare buttocks.

The lawyer assigned to defend the woman calls the allegations a "tragedy" but says Herne is a "very nice lady."

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Corpun file 17627

CNN.com, 27 April 2006

Spanked employee seeks $1.2 million

Alarm company says it was part of a team-building exercise

Plaintiff Janet Orlando leaves court during a break Wednesday.

FRESNO, California (AP) -- Lawyers for a woman spanked in front of co-workers as part of what her employer said was a team-building exercise asked a jury Wednesday for at least $1.2 million for the humiliation she says she suffered.

Janet Orlando, 53, quit her job at the home security company Alarm One Inc. and sued, alleging discrimination, assault, battery and infliction of emotional distress.

Employees were paddled with rival companies' yard signs as part of a contest that pitted sales teams against each other, according to court documents. The winners poked fun at the losers, throwing pies at them, feeding them baby food, making them wear diapers and swatting their buttocks.

"No reasonable middle-aged woman would want to be put up there before a group of young men, turned around to show her buttocks, get spanked and called abusive names, and told it was to increase sales and motivate employees," her lawyer, Nicholas "Butch" Wagner, said in his closing argument.

Lawyers for Alarm One, which is based in Anaheim, California, and has 300 employees, said the spankings were part of a voluntary program to build camaraderie and were not discriminatory because they were given to both male and female workers.

"This is being done for one reason and one reason only -- money," said K. Poncho Baker, the company's lawyer.

Alarm One officials ceased the practice in 2004, the year Orlando sued, after another employee complained of being injured, according to court records.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Corpun file 17629

New York Daily News, 29 April 2006

Ouch! Firm to pay $1.7M for spanking

FRESNO, Calif. - No, it is not okay to spank your employees.

A California jury yesterday awarded $1.7 million in damages and compensation to a woman who was spanked in front of her colleagues in what her employer called a camaraderie-building exercise.

The jury found that Janet Orlando, 53, was subjected to sexual harassment and sexual battery when she was paddled on the rear end two years ago at Alarm One Inc., a home security company in Fresno. The jury said Orlando did not suffer from sexual assault, as she had alleged.

The jury initially awarded her $500,000 in compensatory damages for lost wages, emotional distress and medical expenses. After further deliberation, jurors added another $1.2 million in punitive damages.

"Nationwide this will make for a safer workplace, help ensure less harassment in the workplace," said Orlando's attorney, Nicholas (Butch) Wagner.

Orlando quit in 2004, less than a year after she was hired, saying she was humiliated during the company's camaraderie-building exercises.

Sales teams were encouraged to compete, and the losers were made fun of, forced to eat baby food, required to wear diapers and spanked with a rival company's yard signs, according to court documents.

Follow-up: 17 January 2008 - Woman loses a spanking case