Evaluate the facts presented in the scenario by applying the relevant legal principles.You must Be sure to meet the requirements as stated in Scenario Two, particularly in the Confidential Update.
Create the memo to your boss in 1,050 to 1,400 words that meets the requirements as stated in Scenario Two.
Scenario Two: Cost Club Human Resources Department
Background
This is a continuation of the facts presented in Scenario One. If necessary, review Scenario One before reading Scenario Two.
You assumed the role of Assistant Manager of Human Resources (HR) for a regional office of Cost Club. Your first assignment was to address important issues presented in five messages that your boss, the HR Manager Pat (Pat's last name is the same as your course facilitator) forwarded to you. Now that you have dealt with those five messages, you are given a broader assignment with more responsibility.
Downsizing the Human Resources Department
Your boss, Pat, sends you this e-mail:
Confidential Update
"We currently have eight employees in the HR department, not counting you as assistant manager, and me as department manager. Because of factors beyond our control, we must downsize the department from eight employees to five, and there is NO alternative other than terminating the employment of the three selected.
Corporate policy dictates that our region is not authorized to offer any early retirement, conversion to another department, or other less-severe ways of dealing with the downsizing. We must simply discharge three employees, so five will have to do the work of eight.
I realize this is a challenging task, especially when you've only been here a few weeks. Nevertheless, this may be best, because you don't have any personal relationships and you can be objective and operate in the best interests of the company.
Please provide me with a memo that identifies the employees you believe should be discharged. Include an explanation of what principles of employment law are relevant in the case of each of the three employees: State what the employee would have to prove to win a case of discrimination against us and whether you believe an employee would win the case, based on the facts presented below.
Also, indicate what actions management should initiate to put ourselves in the best possible position with regard to each employee's possible claim of discrimination. Our region encompasses several states, so don't consider any state laws-just the relevant federal law relating to employment and discrimination. Please send me your recommendations about who to discharge in a memo, and provide any legal references that are relevant. In addition, explain how we should incorporate the relevant legal requirements into the process of termination and the dispute resolution process that we might need if employees raise an objection to the discharge. Finally, I'd like your thoughts on what process we should use to respond to any charge of discrimination from the employees who are discharged. We want to effectively deal with such charges, especially in a climate of downsizing.
I don't have a lot of time for this, so in your memo, please don't exceed four pages-1400 words. Keep in mind that your memo may become part of the official record, so it's important to write in a very professional, grammatically-correct manner. I'm also concerned that with so many elements for each of the three employees you select, the message could get confusing, so I'd appreciate you using a table or some other display format that enables me to make comparisons easily. As you know, time is money!
-Pat
You quietly review the personnel and performance assessment records of each of the eight employees, and you learn the following about them:
Abigail is a 28-year old white female personnel specialist who on some occasions acted as a manager in the HR department when the manager or assistant was absent for a week or more. Abigail has a B.S. in Business, and seven years of experience in HR work. She has developed average capability in a variety of HR roles, including record keeping, employee discharge and discipline, and development of the company safety plan. She is considered to be an expert in the area of hiring and training. She also represents the company whenever there are claims for unemployment or workers' compensation benefits. Abigail is a single woman with no family in the city.
Brad has the office next to Abigail. Brad has been with the company for 35 years, and has devoted himself to the business. He has no family to distract him from nearly continuous work with the company. Brad's only significant activity outside work is his hobby, which is investments. He has made achievements with investing, and is now quite wealthy. Brad is competent in safety, matters of discharge and discipline, and is considered expert in records management. He also is the chief representative for the department in unemployment and workers' compensation hearings, and is judged to be expert at it. A Morgan Freeman look-alike, Brad is well-liked by the others and is something of a father figure in the unit. Like Abigail, he has frequently acted as department manager or assistant manager during a manager's absence of a week or more.
Charles joined the company about 20 years ago, and has focused on building a deep understanding of the hiring market from which the company recruits technical workers. This knowledge has enabled the company to maintain a strategic advantage, and it always seems that the company gets the best workers in the industry. While Charles has been outstanding in this critical area, he hasn't learned much about other HR activities, but that was acceptable, because Charles performed such an important task for the company. Charles is an openly gay male, and his lifestyle has never fit well with the majority of the workers of the company.
Diane is a 30-year old expert records specialist who also handles all the complicated health care issues for employees. She covers all insurance and health care matters, and additionally deals with injury compensation and workers compensation matters for the company. Diane is a single mother of three small children, and while her work is outstanding, she has had some minor attendance problems related to sick children and other matters during her 10 years with the company.
Edith handles all training matters for the company; she is currently involved in coordinating the retraining of those employees who are not being laid off. She also has some competence in the areas of discharge, discipline, and hiring. She is an older married woman who does the work for the love of it, because her husband makes enough money to easily support both of them. She's been with the organization for 25 years. Some time ago, Edith filed a series of sexual harassment claims against a senior management official in the finance area. The case was settled quickly with an apology and some compensation paid, although Edith has quietly worried since then that there might be retaliation for speaking up.
Frank is a disabled black male who, since retiring from the military, has been with the company for 15 years. His work experience is broad, having worked in each area of the HR department at one time or another. His disability does not prevent him from doing most tasks, but for about 25% of the tasks he performs, it does take him longer.
Greg has been with the Cost Club HR for 5 years, and has demonstrated considerable ability to learn complex areas quickly, although he's not above average in any one job. While Frank has been involved in tech hiring, Greg has not. Greg's religion prevents him from doing any work on Saturday or Sunday, so when there is weekend work, Greg will not participate, forcing other employees to have to do the weekend work more frequently.
Horatio is a 22-year old Hispanic male who was hired pursuant to a settlement in an EEO case that Horatio filed; he believed he was denied employment with Cost Club, because of his limited effectiveness with the English language. The company decided that, while it did not believe it had violated Horatio's rights in any way, it would be a good-faith demonstration for the company to hire him. There was widespread dissatisfaction with the decision to hire someone who was suing the company, so the HR department decided to take Horatio into its own operation, where he would not be exposed to the hard feelings of other employees. He was hired six months ago and is just learning health and insurance, but is still only marginally skilled.
As you sift through the performance and personnel records, you wonder who will have to go, and what will happen.