With the market for house buying decreasing, Monica finds that she needs a new job while waiting for new clients. At the same time, one of Earl's co-workers died and WESAYSO is hiring a replacement. Fran suggests that Monica work as a tree-pusher, which Earl is against. B.P. Richfield is also against hiring her, but gives an interview anyway and ends up hiring her, putting her under the supervision of foreman Al "Sexual" Harris, who has come up with double-meanings to flirt with the ladies. When Monica makes it clear that she's not interested in him she gets fired, and Fran tricks Earl into revealing that Monica can have a hearing against the company. During the hearings, Mr. Richfield and other executives do their best to make Monica look bad. Earl and other employees talk about the situation, supporting Harris. Fran ends up taking the stand to defend Monica. When it is finally time for Sexual Harris to take the stand, he admits that he said all the things that Monica said he said, but also says that she's just not qualified for the job anyway. At home, Fran asks Monica if she would do it all over again, and she's unsure, feeling like she's accomplished something but unsure what. Charlene then shows her science project that she had given up on earlier after the boys destroyed her last one, saying that she completed it because she felt inspired by what Monica did.
Includes examples of
- Bittersweet Ending: Harris admits that he said that stuff and is barely reprimanded (though Monica knocks the ceiling onto him), and Monica remains unemployed. But the hearings inspire Charlene to try again with her science project, which she passes.
- Catchphrase: Sexual Harris' is "If you know what I mean". Monica later throws it back at him when she flattens him with her tail.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Inverted. Harris admits to everything that's said about him, and Richfield only tells him that he acted unprofessional at work and shouldn't have fired Monica. Justified, in that Richfield is on his side because the double entendres he used to harass Monica were Actually Pretty Funny. Then again, Richfield ordered him to deny that he said the things he was accused of saying.
- Double Entendre: Sexual Harris invented them.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Charlene learns from this episode's events that, despite being a female, she can indeed become an astronomer. Then she puts the finishing touches on her model of the solar system: a square Earth with a sun revolving around it.
- Failed a Spot Check: After Earl tells Fran there's nothing Monica can do about her firing, Fran lies that she was actually talking about her cousin, Monte, who works at the southern branch, which is enough to get Earl to tell her. Even with Earl falling for the trick, he should have noticed that Monica is there and could do what he says in front of her.
- Informed Ability: Mr. Richfield is set to not hire Monica but has to interview her, and after she shows her tree-pushing skills, off-screen, Richfield is impressed enough to change his mind.
- Informed Flaw: In the end, Harris says that while he did say those things, Monica just didn't qualify for the job. This is despite the fact that she impressed Richfield, who was set to not hire her, with how she pushed trees during her job interview.
- Ironic Echo: See Catchphrase above.
- Kangaroo Court: The hearing is blatantly skewered against Monica, with the WESAYSO doing everything in their power to discredit her. They ultimately dismiss the charges against Harris by invoking Actually Pretty Funny.
- Karma Houdini: WESAYSO, who tries to make Monica look bad (Richfield claims that there are really no winners or losers here), and Sexual Harris, since after he confesses, Richfield simply tells him he was unprofessional, and he keeps his job (it helps that his boss was on his side). The closest Harris gets to retribution is when Monica causes the ceiling to crash on him.
- Meaningful Name: Sexual Harris makes sexual jokes, including innuendos, and the court decides to determine what Sexual Harris meant.
- One member of the council is Mr. Lackey, who is controlled by marionette strings, who first applauds and supports Monica, until the strings are pulled and he calls her a tramp.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Needless to say, this episode was not long after the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill scandal that had made sexual harassment a household issue.
- Shout-Out: After the hearing is over, the male dinosaurs sing a variation of "I Am Woman" about being man.
- Special Guest: Jason Alexander as Sexual Harris.
- Spoof Aesop: Charlene's takeaway from Monica's hearing; "Males aren't going to give us cool jobs like tree-pusher or astronomer, we're gonna have to take them!"
- Squashed Flat: Sexual Harris after Monica is through with him.
- Title Drop: B.P. Richfield says that they must determine what Sexual Harris meant.
