Assignment
2: Employment-At-Will Doctrine
Due
Week 5 and worth 150 points
Imagine
you are a recently-hired Chief Operating Officer (COO) in a midsize company
preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). You quickly discover multiple
personnel problems that require your immediate attention.
1. John posted a rant on his
Facebook page in which he criticized the company’s most important customer.
2. Ellen started a blog to
protest the CEO’s bonus, noting that no one below director has gotten a raise
in two (2) years and portraying her bosses as “know-nothings” and
“out-of-touch”
3. Bill has been using his
company-issued BlackBerry to run his own business on the side.
4. After being disciplined for
criticizing a customer in an email (sent from his personal email account on a
company computer), Joe threatens to sue the company for invasion of privacy.
5. One of the department
supervisors requests your approval to fire his secretary for insubordination.
Since the secretary has always received glowing reviews, you call her into your
office and determine that she has refused to prepare false expense reports for
her boss.
6. Anna’s boss refused to sign
her leave request for jury duty and now wants to fire her for being absent
without permission.
As
an astute manager, you will need to analyze the employment-at-will doctrine and
determine what, if any, exceptions and liabilities exist before taking any
action. As you proceed with your investigation, you discover the company has no
whistleblower policy.
In
preparation for this assignment, use the Internet or Strayer Library to
research your state’s employment-at-will policy.
Write
a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:
1. Summarize the
employment-at-will doctrine discussed in the text and then evaluate three (3)
of the six (6) scenarios described by determining:
a. Whether you can legally
fire the employee; include an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the
employment-at-will doctrine.
b. The primary action(s) that
you should take to limit liability and impact on operations; specify the
ethical theory that best supports your decision.
2. Examine your state’s policy
on employment-at-will. Analyze at least one (1) real-world example of an
employee or employer utilizing your state’s employment-at-will doctrine in the
last five (5) years. Include a summary of the main issue and the outcome in the
identified real-world example.
3. Use at least three (3)
quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia is not an
acceptable reference and proprietary Websites do not qualify as academic
resources.
Your
assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
- Be typed, double spaced, using
Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides;
citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check
with your professor for any additional instructions. - Include a cover page containing
the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the
course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not
included in the required assignment page length.
The
specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
- Analyze and apply the concepts of
freedom versus responsibility and ethical decision making. - Analyze and evaluate laws that
protect against discrimination in the workplace. - Analyze and evaluate the
employment-at-will doctrine and exceptions, as well as the protections
afforded whistleblowers. - Explore the legal and ethical
issues surrounding employee and consumer privacy. - Use technology and information
resources to research issues in law, ethics, and corporate governance. - Write clearly and concisely about
law, ethics, and corporate governance using proper writing mechanics.
Clickhere to view the grading
rubric for this assignment.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer
quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills,
using the following rubric.
|
Points: 150 |
Assignment 2: Employment-At-Will |
|||
|
Criteria |
Unacceptable Below 70% F |
Fair 70-79% C |
Proficient 80-89% B |
Exemplary 90-100% A |
|
1. Summarize Weight: 10% |
Did not |
Partially |
Satisfactorily |
Thoroughly |
|
1a. Evaluate three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by Weight: 25% |
Did not |
Partially |
Satisfactorily |
Thoroughly |
|
1b. Evaluate |
Did not |
Partially |
Satisfactorily |
Thoroughly |
|
2. Examine Weight: 25% |
Did not |
Partially |
Satisfactorily |
Thoroughly |
|
3. 3 Weight: 5% |
No references |
Does not meet |
Meets number |
Exceeds |
|
4. Clarity, Weight: 10% |
More than 6 |
5-6 errors |
3-4 errors |
0-2 errors |

