Case Study : Two Tough Calls

The employment At-Will doctrine is in place to allow employment relationships to be restricted. It allows employers and employees to terminate a relationship at any time without cause. The doctrine will allow employees to quit without any fear of being held liable for any inconvenience or disruption to the business at the time of quitting. This doctrine also allows employers to make any changes towards an employee’s term of employment (N, 2017). However, some exceptions could prevent an employee to make those changes if the employee is covered in that particular area. Doyle A

In 1980, a precedent was set in a Michigan court case involving a man named Charles Toussaint who was suing his employer, BlueCross Blue Shield, for wrongful termination based on the guidelines set in the employee manual (Alfred and Bertsche 33). The manual stated that employees would only be terminated for just cause, and the court decided that Blue Cross had violated the agreements in the employee manual (34). The court also ruled that even with Blue Cross’s efforts to provide a document that “issued non-binding guidelines” the employee manual was a contract and Toussiant was wrongfully terminated (34). After the precedent set by this case many employers and employees for that matter were reviewing their employee manuals for the type of

In dealing with a person’s livelihood, and often, sense of self, it is of no surprise that ethical issues regarding employment practices are of great concern. The issues of employment at will and due process contracts in the workplace are among the most widely contentious in the realm of employment. Employment at will is the doctrine that employment may be ended, by either party, for good, bad or no cause at all.1 Due process, on the other hand, is the employment practice in which a person may appeal a decision as a means of receiving an explanation and the opportunity to argue against it.2 Employment at will is the standard in the majority of private corporations today and is argued for relentlessly by freedom of contract enthusiasts,

"Labor Code section 2922, which provides that an employment relationship of unspecified duration may be terminated at the will of either party, establishes a presumption of at-will employment. This presumption may be overcome by evidence of an implied agreement that the employment would continue indefinitely, pending the occurrence of some event such as the employer 's dissatisfaction with the employee 's services or the existence of a cause for termination. (Foley v. Interactive Data Corp. (1988) 47 Cal.3d 654, 680, 254 Cal.Rptr. 211, 765 P.2d 373.) `[Factors apart from consideration and express terms may be used to ascertain the existence and content of an employment agreement, including the personnel policies or practices of the employer, the employee 's longevity of service, actions or communications by the employer reflecting assurances of continued employment, and the practices of the industry in which the employee is engaged. ' [Citation.]" (Soules v. Cadam, Inc. (1991) 2

Employment-at-will Doctrine is legal rule, which gives employers broad discretion to fire employees “for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all” (Halbert, Ingulli, & Frey, 2015). The meaning of the term at-will lay in the will of employer to dismiss an employee at any time for any reason. From the other side an employee can feel free to leave a work at any time, without reason, and it will not have any unfavorable legal outcomes. Under at-will employer has right to make changes in the employment relationship agreement without any notification. Such changes can be applied to reduction of benefits, rate of wages or alteration in schedule of work. Employment-at-will may put employees in a vulnerable position. Under at-will conditions, employer has rights to dismiss employee with or without any reason. Such dismissal is limiting employee 's legal rights to dispute termination.

Walsh, D. J. (2013). Employment law for human resource practice (4th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage

4. Explain why the disclaimer in the employee manual does not have the effect desired by the employer. Champion Jogbra employee manual was unclear and misleading. Disclaimers when used should contain language that is clear, specific and communicated effectively to the employees. Disclaimers when used should be presented in a manner that is prominent and obvious manner, (Walsh). Champion Jogbra, on one hand the employer, will provide fair and equal treatment, on another hand the employee can be terminated at anytime. These are mixed messages the employer, Jogbra was providing its employees. Policies listed in the employee handbook made the employees feel as though their job was protected, even though Champion Jogbra does not offer employment contracts. The guidelines listed in the employee handbook as champion Jogbra so eloquently called them are not a part of an employment contract and should not be taken as such. However the guidelines were vague and gave the employees false pretense that their

On the contrary, employment at will is defended by Richard Epstein in his article “In Defense of the Contract at Will”. He is trying to show that the contract at will “is adopted not because it allows the employer to exploit the employee, but rather because over a very broad range of circumstances it works to the mutual benefit of both parties.” Then I will summarize the benefits of EAW that Epstein provides.

Employment at will is a law that is present in all fifty states in the US; although, in Montana there requires a stated cause for termination. Employment at will creates dissent among employees when they have been terminated for a cause that is thought to be unsubstantial or when no cause is given. There are pros and cons to the presumption, and employees and employers have different views. Employment at will means that the employer can terminate an employee at any time, for any cause without warning. However, even an at-will employee cannot be terminated because of discriminatory reasons. Employment at will also means that an employee can leave a job at any time without the fear of facing any legal consequences. An employer can also

1. Use the decision-making model (page 196) presented in the chapter to map the decisions being made in these situations. Identify how, where, and why different decisions might be made.

The people involved in this dilemma are Brenda Capps, Kathy Arnold, Lisa Dixon, Perry Silex, Tina Causey, and the clients, A, B, C, D, E at Grand Lake Mental Health Center. The first episode was with the client A and client E; they were joking around a little, but their relationship was getting closer between them. Both clients were getting closer in the sessions and away from the clinic. To the point, client A was going over to client E’s house. Since client E has a boyfriend; client E, set a boundary up with client A it has been well contained. But client A was getting to physical, and too close to them personally with clients B, C, and D. It started out with client A putting his hand on their shoulders or

As managers, one of the biggest challenges we face on a daily basis is that of actually managing our people. One common challenge we discovered among our group was the difficulty of hiring the right people for the right job. Not only does one have to define the technical skills necessary to perform the job, managers need to determine which type of behavioral skills the new hire must possess in order to fit into the dynamics of the existing team. The latter is much harder to identify. Finding the right personalities that will work well and compliment your existing team is critical. Personnel Decisions International (1999) explains, when hiring people it is important to determine the most important competencies for the organization as

The USA is one of the only some countries where employment is principally at-will. All states apart from Montana assume such relationship of employment in the U.S (2005, Ewing, North, Taylor). The majority countries of the world let employers to release employee simply for cause. A number of the reasons specified for the retention of the at-will assumption comprise employer deference, respect for autonomy of contract, and the faith that equally employers and employees support an at-will employment relationship above security of job. At-will denotes that an employer can fire an employee at whatever time for any cause apart from some biased reasons, or for no reason devoid of sustaining legal accountability. Likewise, an employee has right

Understanding the strategic long-term goals of a company in terms of recruiting, testing, selection and hiring are significant components to strategic human resource management. In other words, a company needs to hire the right person for the right job. The culture of an organization creates a unique design for the structure and the “practiced values are a major factor in the success or failure of the structure” (Reichard). It appears the culture of Big Time Computers did not include best practices in the area of Human Resource Management when it came to recruiting, testing, selecting, hiring and dealing with performance issues of their employees. This paper will review the Human Resource Management issues regarding the performance practices and discuss the possible corrective steps Conroy could have taken throughout Henderson’s employment, steps to be taken in the case of impending termination, and recommendations for improving the department morale and even the overall culture of Big Time Computers when it comes to these types of issues in the future.

Athena is a taxi service designed specifically for women and children. This is important because of the numerous incidents of rape, abuse and the feeling of being unsafe that have been reported. Athena allows potential customers to download the app and enter their information and use the app to order a car. The car will be driven by a woman with a licence that has been psychologically tested and background checks have been conducted on. Driving tests will be conducted regularly on divers. The business will market the service through social media sites and advertising on radio. The start-up capital needed is R10000 for advertising, employment and buying the rights to add the app on play Store South Africa. The owner is Teya Rampaul who will appoint three people to management who will report to her and each manager will be responsible for two drivers. At first six drivers will be employed and as the business expands more will employed.