Rita's workers' compensation termination case against Acme Company

¶ … Workers' Compensation Case

The primary issue in the case of Rita and her termination from employment from the Acme Company was whether or not her termination was based upon her negligence and not her injury that she received on the job. Although Rita had been reprimanded on several occasions, her actual termination from the company occurred shortly after she acquired an injury on the job. Therefore, the central issue in the case is whether the company had the right to terminate Rita based on her poor performance on the job, or whether the company used her past employee reprimands in an opportunistic way to protect themselves from a worker's compensation case as well as the resulting liability that might have been generated from such a case.

Rule

The rule that is most relevant to this case is the Florida Workers' Compensation Law that protects employees from being unduly discharged due to the fact that they might have a case against the company that might hold them liable. Most specifically, the rule reads as:

"No employer shall discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, or coerce any employee by reason of such employee's valid claim for compensation or attempt to claim compensation under the Workers' Compensation Law."

It follows that the rule is intended to protect employees despite their employment history. For example, it would not necessarily matter that an employee had zero discretions, or one hundred, the rule would apply the same. If an employee was injured for some reason that was due to their own negligence, then the employment record might be relevant based on their performance in the past. However, if the previous discretions were not relevant to the current injury, then it is reasonable to believe that these issues would not be relevant to the current case and the rule would apply without and consideration of previous performance criteria.

Analysis

The central issue in the case relates to whether or not the company used their position as the employer to terminate a relationship on the basis that they were intending to unduly limit their liability to an employee's claim, without adequate grounds otherwise. Although the company has cited many reprimands that the employee had been given based on her performance, the employee's position was not yet terminated. The timing of the termination, for example, after the company realized a potential liability resulting from an injury, makes it suspect to violating the rule that governs the situation.

2. What is the purpose of remedial statutes?

A remedial statute is one that takes some form of corrective action to address some societal issue that has deemed to have gone wrong and have caused injury to an individual or group of people. This allows legislators some discretion in adjusting laws, rules, and statues to the current cultural, social, and political circumstances of the period and thus defining new applications of laws that might be relevant to arising situations that have never before presented themselves.

3. What can happen when a bill is passed by Congress and sent to the president?

The executive branch has the obligation to either pass the bill or to exercise veto power and deny the bill from becoming law.

4. Who are lobbyists and what is their function?

Lobbyist represent the special interests that might be affected by any particular piece of legislation. They are typically experts in the subject matter that they specialize in and can assist legislators in crafting legislation more efficiently and effectively under many circumstances.

5. What is the purpose of procedural law?

Procedural laws, in short, have been created to ensure that all citizens are treated the same in regards to the processes that they must undergo to have their case heard in front of the law. It is not only important that all people are treated equally, but that all persons undergo the same procedural requirements as well.

8. What is the purpose of protective laws?

The protective law is passed in order to "protect" citizens from some influence or intrusion that they believe is detrimental to the public good. For example, laws have been passed to prohibit driving under the influence of alcohol to protect citizens, not only from themselves, but from endangering other people as well.

Resources:

Walston-Dunham, B (2012). Introduction to Law. (Sixth). New York Delmar Cengage Learning. 978-1111311896

Tim Tyler (2012). Nailing the Baby Bar: How to Write Essays for the California First Year Law Student Exam. Practical Step Press. 978-1-9361600-04-4