Shampoo-Grabbing Librarian Gets MoCo's Money

Get your shampoo on your own time

By CHRIS NEEDHAM

Updated 11:30 AM EST, Tue, Nov 3, 2009

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Montgomery County is sending a harsh message to its employees: when you retrieve your shampoo, you're retrieving it on your own time.

What!?

A county librarian filed for workers' compensation and was awarded six weeks' worth for her injuries, and now the County is suing to get it back, reports the Examiner. So what happened to her? You better sit down.

Ginger Wilson was trying to grab a shampoo bottle out of her car because she had a hair appointment during her lunch break. In the process of reaching for it, a gust of wind blew her car door into her, knocking her down and injuring her wrist, which required surgery, according to the Examiner.

Yes, she was injured grabbing shampoo from her car.

She argued (well, her lawyer did, who was in turn awarded over $500) before the Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission that her shampoo-grabbing was related to her job since it occurred... well, we don't really know how they made that connection, really.

The Commission agreed, and now MoCo is appealing, suing to get about $5,500 back from Ms. Wilson. The paper notes that the county has paid out over $32 million in workers' compensation claims over the last three fiscal years.

With decisions like that, it's easy to see how.

Just imagine how much she'd be awarded were she to do something really dangerous on her lunch break, like juggling chainsaws or skydiving.