Employment-At-Will Doctrine

This paper will discuss four different situations concerning the behavior of recently hired employees. The manager and supervisor of an accounting department should analyze actions of the workers and make a right decision, which should complies with the employment-at-will doctrine and liability of an employer.

First Scenario

The manager of an accounting department hires only the person who has appropriate features that can be useful for employment. They are the following: knowledge, skills, experience, abilities, etc. When the person wants to obtain the desired job he/she has to provide the truthful information concerning itself. Thus, the employer relies on the facts, mentioned in the curriculum vitae, because he cannot check the obtained information. Jennifer told that she has necessary knowledge and skills. She assured that she can use appropriate computer applications. In spite this fact, she was unable to cope with this task. The critical issue is that the employer is responsible for his/her employees while the company has obligations to customers (Outten, 2009). Because of that the business entity has the risk of being involved in a lawsuit against the customer for non-compliance of company’s duties. Therefore, the improper employee can cause company’s losses.

In this case, it is strongly advisable to provide a sufficient training for such employee. The length of training depends on the subject but must be held within a reasonable time. Jennifer should be informed by a written notice, in which the employer expresses the concern about her inability to use the computer. This document should contain the statement that if Jenifer does not learn how to use computer applications after passing the training and assuming she is not able to perform any other non-computer related tasks in the office, she will be terminated. According to the employment-at-will doctrine, the employer has this option (Glynn, Arnow-Richman, & Sullivan, 2010).

Nevertheless, there is one difficulty for the manager. In case of the termination of the contract, Jennifer has the right to protest this decision in the court. The complaint will be based on the arguments that the manager did not use “good faith and fair dealing” (Ingulli & Halbert, 2012), and that she did not lie by saying that she is a good worker, because she did not know her actual abilities in using the computer.

Second Scenario

The proposed situation showed that Jennifer’s behavior is wrongful and illegal. In this case, I am able to fire her only if several necessary steps will be followed.

The first step is to analyze the company’s rules of conduct and find whether there are exact breaches in actions of Jennifer. If rules do not state that the worker is obliged to be polite with the staff and clients and that the lateness is prohibited, it should be amended. Jennifer also has to sign the notification that she has read and understood new rules (Glynn, Arnow-Richman, & Sullivan, 2010).

After that, I have to issue a written warning or reprimand, where I need to mention that in case of further violations, Jennifer will be fired. She should have some time to revise her behavior.

I also can offer some help to her. This proposal has also been set forth in the written form. This step is necessary in order to show that the company concerns for employees and tries to help them. These actions make clear that Jennifer is the valuable worker and the manager does not intend to fire her.

When all these steps have followed and Jenifer did not change her behavior, there are all necessary grounds to terminate her. In case she files an action to the court, the company has needed evidences to prove the legality of its actions (Ingulli & Halbert, 2012).

Third Scenario

The termination of Jennifer’s contract by the reason of taking a day off from work in order to spend religion holiday can be interpreted as the discrimination of worker, based on the religion, and may cause the fines for the company. The Federal Civil Law establishes “remedies against employers who fire workers because of their race, national origin, color, religion, sex, age, or disability” (Ingulli & Halbert, 2012). People have equal rights and the prohibition to celebrate the religious event is the serious breach. Thus, in this case, Jennifer has an extremely strong position; consequently, the court will rule in her favor and impose a fine and moral indemnification to the business entity.

Despite the mentioned fact, Jennifer has made a serious breach of corporate rules. If the person wants to take a day off from work, then he/she is obliged to notice the company’s administration. This procedure is necessary in order to change one worker to another, especially when the working process is uninterrupted (Outten, 2009). Jennifer did not notice the manager and was off to work without permission. In this situation, the reason to have the holiday is not necessary. Accordingly, I have to issue the reprimand concerning her violation.

The manager also cannot preclude the process of creating a union. Considering the fact that this situation is not advantageous for the company, I should solve the problem in another way. The company should notify all workers that the administration respects personal life and beliefs of the staff and offers to organize the general discussion of the problem. This action can prevent workers from creating the union, thus the company has the opportunity to resolve the dispute peaceably and avoid the liability.

Fourth Scenario

In this situation, I should verify the information concerning their dating, since it can be only the rumor. When I make sure that this fact is truthful, then it is necessary to analyze the requirements of corporate rules and find the exact statute, which prohibits to date subordinates.

The next step is to organize the interview with both the supervisor and Jennifer. These interviews should be conducted separately. Jennifer has to explain her actions and answer the question, whether the consent to date with the supervisor was voluntary or compulsory. The supervisor has to answer the same question. Additionally, the investigation should also been carried out (Outten, 2009). All acquired information should be documented. For example, the interview should be added to the protocol, and both parties should provide the written confirmation that the date actually happened. According to the results of previous mentioned actions, there are two possible situations.

The first situation, when Jennifer answered that the supervisor forced her to date with him and the results of the investigation prove this fact. Consequently, in this case, the supervisor has committed the serious violation of Jenifer’s civil rights and the employment-at-will doctrine. That is the “good cause” to terminate him. Before the dismissal, this person should get the written notification, in which it is stated that he has made the serious violation (Ingulli & Halbert, 2012).

The second situation is when the date was held by the mutual consent. In this case, I should carry out the specific training for both Jennifer and the supervisor, in which to mention that such relationships are prohibited by the corporate rules of conduct. The supervisor should also get the warning letter, under which he is obliged to stop the violation (Glynn, Arnow-Richman, & Sullivan, 2010). As for Jennifer, in this situation, she has three options: to stop working in this company, to terminate relations with the supervisor, or to change the supervisor.