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Waterboarding to "Motivate"
Provo Utah Scam-Sales Company
Excuses Bullying Manager
Press accounts from The Salt Lake Tribune
Provo Utah Scam-Sales Company
Excuses Bullying Manager
Press accounts from The Salt Lake Tribune
Employee's suit: Company used waterboarding to motivate workers
by Erin Alberty
Feb. 27, 2008
A supervisor at a motivational coaching business in Provo is accused of waterboarding an employee in front of his sales team to demonstrate that they should work as hard on sales as the employee had worked to breathe.
In a lawsuit filed last month, former Prosper, Inc. salesman Chad Hudgens alleges his managers also allowed the supervisor to draw mustaches on employees' faces, take away their chairs and beat on their desks with a wooden paddle "because it resulted in increased revenues for the company."
Prosper president Dave Ellis responded that the allegations amount to "sensationalized" versions of events that have gone uncorroborated by Hudgens' former coworkers.
"They just roll their eyes and say, 'This is ridiculous . . . That's not how it went down,' " Ellis said.
The suit claims that Hudgens' team leader, Joshua Christopherson, asked for volunteers in May for "a new motivational exercise," which he did not describe. Hudgens, who was 26 at the time, volunteered in order to "prove his loyalty and determination," the suit claims.
Christopherson led the sales team to the top of a hill near the office and told Hudgens to lie down with his head downhill, the suit claims. Christopherson then told the rest of the team to hold Hudgens by the arms and legs.
Christopherson poured water from a gallon jug over Hudgens' mouth and nostrils - like the interrogation strategy known as "waterboarding" - and told the team members to hold Hudgens down as he struggled, the suit alleges.
"At the conclusion of his abusive demonstration, Christopherson told the team that he wanted them to work as hard on making sales as Chad had worked to breathe while he was being waterboarded," the suit alleges.
Ellis said the exercise was a dramatization of a story in which a young man asks Socrates to become his teacher. Socrates responds by plunging the student's head underwater and telling him he will learn once his desire for knowledge is as great as his desire to breathe.
However, Ellis said Christopherson explained the exercise before Hudgens volunteered, no one held Hudgens down and Hudgens was free to get up if he was uncomfortable.
"It was meant to be a team-building exercise," Ellis said. "Everybody was . . . involved and enthusiastic."
Hudgens claims he complained to Prosper managers about the exercise, but no action was taken against Christopherson until Hudgens left Prosper.
Prosper attorney George Brunt said Hudgens lodged the complaint six weeks after the exercise; in the meantime, Hudgens joined his team on a water skiing retreat and drove the boat, Brunt said. Ellis said Christopherson was suspended for two weeks while managers investigated Hudgens' complaint. Christopherson returned to work and remains the sales team leader, Ellis said.
"It's incredible to even suggest that he would put anyone under a level of discomfort," Ellis said. "He's a really nice, pleasant, polite young man. He's very dedicated and takes his job very seriously."
However, the suit claims Christopherson "intentionally engaged in physically and emotionally abusive conduct" to punish workers who did not meet company performance goals.
"Prosper's management passed by and through Christopherson's team area and was able to see mustaches on its employees, missing chairs and Christopherson's paddle," the suit alleges.
Ellis said no managers have said they saw the activities described in Hudgens' suit, and the employees reported they are "more along the lines of fun."
"It's voluntary, it's humorous, it's team and camaraderie-building," Ellis said. Hudgens left Prosper because of sleeplessness, anxiety and depression he experienced after the waterboarding, the suit claims. He required psychological counseling for emotional trauma, the suit claims.
The suit accuses Christopherson and Prosper of assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and wrongful termination. It and accuses Christopherson of interfering with Hudgens employment relationship with Prosper. Prosper "provides executive-level coaching for individuals," according to its Web site. Personal coaches offer mentoring that focuses on business and finance.
Firm: 'Waterboarding' suit hasn't hurt sales
by Donald W. Meyers
PROVO - Prosper Inc.'s legal problems have hit the national media and have been analyzed and mocked by bloggers.
ннн Just typing the words "Prosper Inc." and "waterboarding" into Google's search engine generates 2,310 hits.
ннн But Dave Ellis, president of the financial-coaching company based in this central Utah County community, said the unwanted publicity from the lawsuit filed by the former employee, Chad Hudgens, hasn't really hurt business.
ннн Hudgens alleges that, during a company motivational exercise, an executive poured water over his face while colleagues held him down.
ннн Said Ellis: "We agree a training meeting took place, but the witness accounts vary from the claims that Mr. Hudgens has made. As soon as we found out about it, we hired a labor-relations specialist who interviewed everyone involved.
ннн "People understand that our business does not condone or endorse any kind of training that causes discomfort. We've had some inquiries, but as we have explained, it is not condoned."
ннн He dismissed news accounts of the incident ''as media sensationalism.''
ннн Hudgens, in court papers, said the incident left him physically and emotionally traumatized. He's suing the company and the supervisor, Joshua Christopherson, for assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, wrongful termination and intentional interference with contractual relations.
ннн The last charge is directed solely at Christopherson, who supervised Hudgens' sales team.
ннн Hudgens and his Salt Lake City attorney, Sean N. Egan, did not return messages by late Friday. Neither did Christopherson.
ннн Hudgens alleges in the suit that Christopherson sought a volunteer for a motivational exercise last May 29. The court documents say Hudgens volunteered to demonstrate his loyalty. Christopherson then marched his sales group out to a hill next to the company's Riverbottoms headquarters and had Hudgens lie down, with his head downhill. While co-workers held the worker down, Christopherson poured water over Hudgens' mouth and nose, making it difficult for him to breathe.
ннн The point of the lesson, according to the lawsuit, was that the sales team needed to work as hard to sell as Hudgens did to breathe while being doused.
ннн The episode appears similar to the controversial torture method the Bush administration has used to interrogate terror suspects. In waterboarding, the victim is restrained in an inclined position and water is poured over the face, creating the sensation of drowning.
ннн Ellis said Christopherson was suspended for two weeks during the investigation and was brought back after it was concluded. Ellis said Christopherson's unauthorized training activity was based on the legend that Socrates held a man's head underwater to illustrate how much effort was required to actually learn, not a torture method.
ннн Denying that the procedure was waterboarding, Ellis said the investigation also showed that Hudgens was an "enthusiastic and energetic" participant, was not restrained and didn't complain until weeks later.
ннн Ellis said the company offered to provide counseling for Hudgens after hearing he experienced discomfort, but he did not accept it.
ннн "Instead, he hired an attorney."
ннн Hudgens, in his lawsuit, said he reported the incident to the company's human resources department, but nothing was done until after he left the company.
ннн In his suit, he said the waterboarding was not the only thing Christopherson did to humiliate subordinates. Christopherson allegedly took away underperforming employees' desk chairs, drew mustaches on their faces and hit their desks with a wooden paddle.
ннн Ellis said he had heard of those incidents, but nobody had direct knowledge of them.
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