Question 5
For organizations to protect themselves against an employee’s claim of wrongful discharge, it is essential for the company to do so professionally and with respect to the provisions provided for by employment law. One of the provisions that should be followed relates to the concept of documentation. A company should not just document the performance of the personnel they need to terminate, but the performance should be consistent across the entire organization (Truxillo, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2015). In this regard, a company should ensure that all the employees, regardless of their level, should receive complete performance appraisals, which should be part of a regular process. In this case, high, middle, as well as low performance should be provided with the documents. The company should ensure that supervisors should engage in open discussions with their followers regarding their annual performance.
As provided for in the case study, Wayne’s performance was satisfactory, which is an indication that his supervisor was providing suitable documentation that could be used to confirm the same. However, it is essential for an organization to put in place written guidelines that describe the process that is used for selecting and terminating employees, including when different positions are eliminated due to organizational restructuring or downsizing (Cummings & Worley, 2013). From the case, it is possible to determine that Wayne was feeling that his employers provided him with a contract that was partly oral and partly written. This summary could put the employer at risk since the contract provided to Wayne was not entirely in a written form, which means that proving some of the information provided during Wayne’s interview would have been difficult for the company.
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To protect itself from other way through which an organization can protect itself against a claim of wrongful discharge is through ensure that termination decisions are reviewed in an objective way (Mathis, Jackson, & Valentine, 2013). Whenever possible, it would be recommended that an organization should use a human resources leader or any other senior manager to review a performance-related termination before the organization executes the termination (Hammonds & Kapusta, 2003). There is a possibility of arguing that EcoCare took account of this provision by preparing a report to be forwarded to the president. The human resource department also reviewed Wayne’s personnel file, followed by an interview that involved other people to determine the validity of his claim. Even though defending against the wrongful termination claim is difficult, it is essential to assess the resolutions that an organization can consider getting to avoid exposure to financial repercussions and a tarnished reputation (Gregory, 2014). In this light, EcoCare strategized possible resolutions for the case, consequently determining that Wayne’s termination was a result of conflicts with his fellow employees.
To conclude, organizations should be in a position of insulating themselves against lawsuits through following provisions leading to a centralized hiring as well as firing decision-makers. A considerable number of wrongful termination lawsuits are derivatives of hiring, firing, as well as disciplinary decisions made by several decision-makers or supervisors (Cummings & Worley, 2013). For this reason, to ensure that the defense on the lawsuit is not strong enough to warrant dismissal before trial, organizations should insulate themselves by following suitable documentation processes and by ensuring that the wrongful discharge decisions are reviewed objectively (Hammonds & Kapusta, 2003). Even though wrongful termination lawsuits can still challenge a considerable number of employers, the provisions discussed will minimize the liability of an employer in the event that the decision to terminate the employee has to be made.
References
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2013). Organization Development and Change . Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Gregory, D. L. (2014). Labor and the Constitution: Labor and Property, Privacy, Discrimination and International Relations. Routledge.
Hammonds, D., & Kapusta, K. B. (2003). HR how-to: Employment law, everything you need to know to comply with the laws that govern every stage of the employment relationship . Chicago, Ill: CCH.
Mathis, R. L., Jackson, J. H., & Valentine, S. R. (2013). Human Resource Management. Cengage Learning.
Truxillo, D. M., Bauer, T. N. & Erdogan, B. (2015). Psychology and Work: Perspectives on Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Routledge.
