Richard Clem lost his job at the Case Pork Roll Company of Trenton, New Jersey in February, 2014. The reason for his dismissal was because of his uncontrollable flatulence and diarrhea. The 70-year-old man believes that his termination is a crock of shit and is suing his former employer.
For those who don’t live in New Jersey, pork roll AKA Taylor ham, is a pork product that was invented by John Taylor in 1856 in Belle Mead, New Jersey. George Washington Case, a farmer and butcher from nearby Belle Mead, New Jersey, created his own recipe for pork roll in 1870. It is traditionally sliced, pan-fried and added to a bagel with egg and cheese, known as a “Jersey Breakfast” or the perfect hangover food. As far as breakfast meats go, pork roll’s tastiness rivals bacon and is far superior than scrapple, chipped beef or Canadian ham. So to have this glorious, fatty smell and grab some free samples of pork roll seems like a dream job.
Clem weighed about 420 pounds, and decided to do something about his weight so he underwent gastric bypass surgery in October 2010. He lost 120 pounds, but also gains some shitty side effects such as unstoppable rectum burps and green apple splatters. According to the suit, Clem’s symptoms worsened to the point that it caused “significant disruption in the workplace” in 2013.
Richard’s wife, Louann, who also worked at the Case Pork Roll Company, filed a lawsuit claiming that her husband’s termination was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The suit alleges that the company’s president Thomas Dolan made Richard Clem work from home and said remarks such as, “We cannot run an office and have visitors with the odor in the office,” and “Tell Rich we are having complaints from people who have problems with the odors.”
The Clems’ lawyer, David Koller, said “Flatulence and farting is the sexy part of the story, but my client suffers from obesity, which is covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act.” Yup. A 300-pound, 70-year-old man with shit dripping down his varicose veiny legs at a pork roll factory is so sexy. Next stop, Boner City.
Louann Clem is seeking damages from Case Pork Roll that include pain and suffering, compensatory damages and punitive damages. Richard Clem also wants company employees to go through training programs that will prevent future incidents from occurring.
You can see the 7-page lawsuit below.
How great is it that some lawyer had to draw up legal papers that state, “As a result of the surgery, Mr. Clem suffered side effects such as extreme gas and uncontrollable diarrhea.” I imagine that the lawyer had to ask his colleague, “Do you think ‘extraordinary flatulence’ is too aggressive or should I tone it down to ‘extreme gas’?”
Hey Dick, maybe your former employers did you a great favor by not having you engulfed in pork for nine hours a day after you just had gastric bypass surgery? They even let you work from home! And plus you work with food. I wouldn’t want your shitty fecal matter being blasted into the air where my precious pork roll is being packaged. Not to mention that it’s probably some health code violation. This whole situation reeks of shit.
[HuffPo]