Legal Encounter 1Employment at will means that employees work at the discretion of their employers, which means employers may terminate their relationships with employees without notice or cause. Furthermore, an employer may modify its agreement of employment for an at will employee. Pat Grey is a terminated employee for Newcorp who was employed at will.Recent case law has put restrictions on employment at will as its fallen into disfavor because employees rely on the presumption that they have a basic job security provided to them through promises, procedures and policies that align with what is written in their employee handbooks. The legal principle that supports this presumption ...view middle of the document...
Management must be mindful of promises made to Pat Grey when he relocating from another city 300 miles away, moving his spouse and children, selling and buying a home, and dealing with a spouse having to quit her job to seek employment in the new state.Legal Encounter 2:Sam developed a relationship with a female subordinate, Paula who subsequently lost interest and began dating someone outside of NewCorp. Sam's affections lead to inappropriate behavior towards Paula that fostered a hostile work environment and resulted in quid pro quo sexual harassment.Proactive steps to investigate this situation within 24 hours will demonstrate a prudent response to sexual harassment. Management must interview potential witnesses who may be aware of his pattern of harassment. Management must remove Paula and Sam from the work environment to make it clear to other employees that the separation does not imply any prejudgment against either party. The next step that management must take is to choose carefully the questions for interviews during the investigation. During interviewing process, one should get details pertaining to the alleged acts, dates and other information that illustrates a pattern of behavior. Conduct these interviews in seclusion. Management will ask for documentation and other hard evidence that will substantiate the case. Examples of documents can be notes, hotel receipts and other material that serves as evidence. Management can be held liable for defamation of character if management is not mindful to reveal only what is necessary and confirmed. A sexual harassment case can be potentially detrimental to Newcorp's reputation.In the case of Internal Union versus Johnson Controls, Inc., the plaintiffs in this class action suit believed that women had the right to choose a high-risk job according to the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978. The purpose of Title VII is to eliminate discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. A policy that excludes women "capable of bearing children" from working dangerous positions is sex discrimination.Title VII bans sex-specific fetal-protection policies as case law. Management must not allow Sam to block Paula's request to transfer to wire-coating section for the reason "fetal-protection". Paula's contention is correct, that blocking her transfer, citing company policy that the chemic...
