Fair Treatment in the Workplace

Question 1 

Workplace discrimination can be termed as the unfair treatment of employees due to personal characteristics that are protected by the law. The personal characteristics include race, skin color, national origin, gender, disability, religion or age. There are various regulations that protect workers from exploitation and discrimination in workplaces. The Equal Pay Act of 963 protects male and female employees from discrimination against sex-based wages during the payment of wages and benefits for employs performing the same equal work in the same establishment. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, sections 501 and 505 protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on disability. This law covers both job applicants and employees who are qualified but have disabilities. The law further demands the federal agencies to make accommodations for any known disabilities with than exception if the said accommodations will lead to undue hardships (Reich & Hershcovis, 2015). 

Employers take advantage of the naivety of employees on legal matters regarding the treatment of employees and applicants. However, various federal regulations have been a reprieve to employees and job applicants who feel discriminated. In a case involving Tucker vs Walgreen company, Tucker accused the company of discriminating African American employees by assigning them jobs to less desirable stores for longer period of times compared to the other workers. Walgreen company was found in violation of the law and ordered to compensate the employees $20 million dollars and an extensive injunction relief to be implemented for a period of five years (Garcia, 2017). In another case Kraszewski, et al vs State Farm Insurance Company, involved a gender discrimination case where the company is said to have rejected or deterred female applicants in the position of sales agents. After a lengthy court battle, the parties negotiated an agreement that would provide a relief injunction to increase the number of female sales agents and a $250 million dollar monetary relief (Garcia, 2017). 

Following a conflict in federal legislation and states law, a court has two choices in which it can use to solve the conflict. The first choice is applying the law of forum or what is referred to as lex fori . It usually refers to the result when a question of which law to be applied is procedural. The law of the site of transaction can also be applied to resolve the law conflict. The second choice is determining the occurrence that gave rise to the litigation in the first place also referred to as lex loci. This is the law that is used when the case is substantive. 

Question 2 

Employment at will doctrine refers to an employment agreement that acknowledges the employment period is indefinite and may be terminated by the employer or employee. Under employment at will an employer has the power to terminate employment without cause or notice, change duties, benefits and compensation without warning or rationale. However, it is not applicable in practice due to the many regulations and laws protecting employees. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides protection for employees in terms of discrimination with Title VII protection covering the full spectrum of employment decisions which include termination, retrenchment and selection and other decisions that are concerned with terms and conditions of employment (Harris & Krueger, 2015). The law requires for the employer to terminate employment with reasonable cause and have a prior notice indicating the time for end of employment. Failure to issue notice is contrary with the provision of the law. 

There are various exceptions provided for in the laws and regulations for employment that undermine the employment at will doctrine. Public policy exception is a rule of exception that prohibits employers from firing or discharging an employee should the decision violate the public policy doctrine of a state, a state statue or a federal statute. The covenant of good faith exception refers to the employee and employer being fair and honest to each other. Neither party should undermine the rights and benefits of each other. Employers are demanded to have the just cause of firing an employee in states that follow this exception. Written or Implied contracts is another exception undermining the at will employment. For employers providing written contracts to employees, certain language in the contract may undermine the at will employment. This include specific compensation amounts or specific dates. Without a written contract implied contract might send the wrong message to the employees during work engagement thus undermining at will employment. Trade unions and collective bargaining units provide another exception for employment at will since they cross state lines and have their own contractual languages, employee in these unions are not employable in at will employment. Union contracts contain conditions specifying grounds for termination, means of notifying and compensation upon termination. 

Robert is justified to sue Peter for wrongful termination. The case has a higher chance of prevailing since the cause for firing is not just. The reasons for firing do not show poor performance, insubordination or company policy violation. Seth can sue the company for wrongful termination. However, the case may not prevail due to insubordination and violation of company policies. The causes for termination may be deemed just. Bria is eligible to sue the company for wrongful termination. The case may prevail since the company denies Brian a paternity leave that should be awarded to employees who have had newborns. Jackson can sue for wrongful termination however his case might not prevail due to the fact that his performance is poor. 

Question 3 

State workers compensation is a form of insurance for accidents an employee may suffer while working. The compensation is paid by employers and an employee does not incur any payroll deductions for that insurance. Workers’ compensation covers medical expenses and wage-loss compensation for an employee who can’t work after suffering an injury or work related injury until one has fully recovered and can resume work. Private companies or state-run workers compensation funds are responsible for paying the benefits and benefits to dependents in case of a death of an employee due to work related injury. Undocumented workers are workers doing jobs in United States without legal papers that approve them to be working there. They are mainly immigrants who cross the United States borders illegally in search of better lives. Since they are not recognized as citizens they cannot get the necessary papers to be employed legally and end up doing menial jobs without any protection by the laws. 

Undocumented workers face a lot of dangers since they are not recognized by the federal government as bona-fide citizens. There states as undocumented workers exposes them to unfair treatment in workplaces. They are also not in a position of making legal claims due to fear of being deported. However, due to the deplorable states they are usually in they accept any form of employment to support themselves. They persevere the harsh conditions to make ends meet and keep a low profile from the authorities. There are various federal and state immigration law that conflict when it comes to matters of immigration. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 dictates that immigrants be allowed to access welfare benefits as they try to fit in the country (Gulasekaram, 2018). However various states have conflicted with this law as they have passed legislations that limit access to welfare benefits for immigrants and especially illegal immigrants. 

References 

Reich, T. C., & Hershcovis, M. S. (2015). Observing workplace incivility.  Journal of Applied Psychology ,  100 (1), 203. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036464 

Harris, S. D., & Krueger, A. B. (2015).  A Proposal for Modernizing Labor Laws for Twenty-First-Century Work: The" Independent Worker" . Washington, DC: Hamilton Project, Brookings. 

Garcia, R. (2017). Where's the Power-Defamation and Wrongful Interference in the Restatement of Employment Law.  Emp. Rts. & Emp. Pol'y J. ,  21 , 563. Retrieved from: https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/facpub/1185 

Gulasekaram, P. (2018). Immigration federalism. In  Controversies in American Federalism and Public Policy  (pp. 151-170). Routledge.