Newcorp Legal Encounter What Liabilities and Rights

NewCorp

Legal Encounter

What liabilities and rights do NewCorp and Pat have in this situation? What legal principles, such as statutory or case law, support those liabilities and rights?

NewCorp is liable to follow the guidelines of the handbook outlining how to deal with unsatisfactory employees, but they also have the right to dismiss an employee at will. Pat on the other hand, has the right to be informed about the indication of the problem and put through a corrective plan to improve his shortcomings before dismissal. Nevertheless, this is a case of implied contract where there is lack of clause clarifying that the policy is not intended to include employment affiliations (Cheeseman, 2010). The employment-at-will doctrine allows the employer to dismiss employ at will; however, in this case NewCorp violated their own guidelines showing poor ethics in the decision to terminate Pat's employment.

Wrongful discharge is supported by the case law while employment-at-will supported by the statutory law. There are Employment Discrimination laws that protect employees from discrimination based on race, national origin, religion, sex, physical disability or age of employees (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2013). Some bodies also seek to prevent employment discrimination in terms of job termination, promotion, hiring, compensation and different types of harassment. Bottom line is, unilateral termination of a contract can be categorized as a wrongful termination, and most cases create risks for potential lawsuits for the company. If Pat suits and wins, the company can be liable for compensatory damages (Cheeseman, 2010).

Legal Encounter 2

What liability does NewCorp have in this situation? What actions might NewCorp take? Identify which legal principles, such as statutory or case law, support your responses.

Forced sexual behavior like that exhibited by the supervisor could establish widespread favoritism and quid pro quo, which may give rise to a hostile work environment claim. Therefore, NewCorp can be liable for discrimination and sexual assault. The EEOC determined that widespread favoritism results in female workers getting promotions or advantages only by assenting to sexual conduct (Jennings, 2006). The action that NewCorp can take to handle such situation is to implement a policy that illegalizes relationships among employees. This will be able to address sexual assault and harassment consequences in the company.

Congress enacted several statues to help fight discrimination against employees such as Title VII of the civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibits discrimination in workplace environment on the basis of promotion, job transfers, job trainings and gender, while the Amendment Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1964 also protects employees from harsh or hostile work environments (Grossman, 2003). Therefore, According to the Supreme Court, sexual harassment creates a hostile work environment thus violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. As a manager or NewCorp, Sam is an urgent of the company making the company liable for Sam's actions. Therefore, if Paula files a law suit against the company, they might have to pay her punitive damages.

Legal Encounter 3

What specific regulatory compliance issues arise in this scenario? How should NewCorp address those issues? How should NewCorp manage the legal risk associated with those issues?

The specific regulatory compliance issues that arise in this case are Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). This act attempts to assure healthy and safe working conditions for all employees by ensuring enforcement of standards and provisions under the Act (United States Department of Labor, 2010). To address the issue, NewCorp should analyze the problem by making sure that the company does not violate employee's rights and complies with federal regulations.