Legal_Risk

Legal Encounter-1 NewCorp. hired Pat as manager of real property in Vermont, where he was responsible for maintaining leased office space. Pat relocated from another city 300 miles away, moved his family, and sold and bought a home in Vermont and his wife quit her job to seek employment in Vermont. After Pat worked for three months with NewCorp. his supervisor explained that things were not working out and that Pat would be discharged with 30 days of severance pay. Pat was surprised because his employer gave no previous indication of any problem. I believe Pats termination was not justifiable because Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance/Corrective Action Plan was never given to Pat for his unsatisfactory performance and Pat was never questioned about his performance in the three months with NewCorp. The employer took great interest in brining Pat in from far away, paid for relocation cost and terminating the employee within such a short period time is not reasonable. Pat acknowledge that he signed a document to show his understanding that the company observed employment at will with respect to discharge, but he believed that provision limited NewCorp’s freedom to discharge him at will. In respect to the rules of NewCorp corrective action plan, Pat was never given any verbal or written notice for his performance and therefore I believe that Pat’s termination is not fully justifiable. Prior to giving Pat 30 days notice of his termination, NewCorp must give Pat Corrective Action plan to improve his performance or give more justifiable reason for his termination. According to Pat, NewCorp’s senior managements were noticeably unfriendly after Pat had been vocal at a local school board meeting and therefore, Pat can file a wrongful termination suit. Pat can file a suit for involved in an intentional discrimination. “A court can award punitive damages against an employer in a case involving an employer’s malice or reckless indifference to federally protected rights (Cheeseman, 2010, p. 514). Due to limited information given to Pat for his termination, NewCorp must do a better job of explaining why the decision was made to terminate him. HR department of NewCorp must provide Pat of all his rights prior to letting him go and one of his superior must explain to Pat about his termination. Legal Encounter-2 Sam is a supervisor of 100 employees at New Corp. of electrical manufacturing for automotive under-dash wiring harnesses. Sam developed a relationship with one of his employees, Paula, and they began dating. Paula later ended the relationship with Sam. Sam wanted to continue dating Paula, and he began exhibiting unwelcome behaviors, even after she told him to stop. Sam had violated New Corp. policy of dating individual in work environment and is subject to sexual harassment of an employee. “The U.S. Supreme Court has held that sexual harassment that creates a hostile work environment violates Title VII” (Cheeseman, 2010, p. 516). Sam has created a hostile work environment for Paula to work in which is affecting Paula’s work performance even after Paula confronted with Sam to stop harassing her. When Paula asked for a transfer, Sam blocked the transfer, citing evidence that chemicals used in wire coatings could harm an early state fetus. New Corp should enforce policy in place for couples who work together in relationship, and under this policy they can not work in the same department therefore Paula can get her transfer to a different department even though she has stopped dating Sam. Given the benefit of doubt about Sam’s concern toward Paula’s pregnancy of working in the new department, management should give a written notice for his negative behavior and will terminate if he does not clean up his act of discriminating his coworkers. Also New Corp should implement semi-annual training for all supervisors and managers in area of rules and regulations of employment laws. Legal Encounter-3 After an employee was injured when working on the machine; Paul a senior maintenance technician at NewCorp refused to work on the machine saying that the work space was too confining and dangerous. NewCorp attempted to relocate it to create more space, but nearby building support beams did not allowed for relocation. Paul called the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to complain about NewCorp requiring him to work in a dangerous situation. In addition to calling OSHA, Paul threatened to get a lawyer and sue NewCorp. The management is aware of confined space technician has to work in the maintenance area and have looked into creating bigger space but due to nearby building support beams did not allow for relocation. Paul is refusing not to work in the area and NewCorp management should not force Paul to work in such condition which he believe it is dangerous for him to work. “OSHA is empowered to inspect places of employment for health hazards and safety violation. If a violation is found, OSHA can issue a written citation that requires the employer to abate or correct the situation (Cheeseman, 2010, p. 489). NewCorp will have OSHA inspect work area and based on their inspection Paul can file for workers compensation for the days he missed. Workers compensation benefits are paid according to preset limits established by statute or regulation. Management should give Paul a choice to work in our shipping department until OSHA determines the outcome of the site. Also Paul should be liable to work for NewCorp since the management is temporarily relocating him to a different department. It is the duty of an employer to provide a work environment free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serous physical harm to employees. One of top priorities of NewCorp is to establish more space for maintenance area and considering shifting the maintenance department to new area within the building in few months. Paul is valuable employee to our corporation and I believe we should always look into employees work environment and make sure they are safe. Reference Cheeseman, H. R. (2010). Business Law: Legal Environment, Online Commerce, Business Ethics, and International Issues (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.