Avoiding Wrongful Employee Terminations
Overview
To be wrongfully terminated is to be fired for an illegal reason, which may involve violation of federal antidiscrimination laws or breach of contract. The legal standards governing termination differ substantially depending on whether private-sector and nonunion employees or public-sector and unionized employees are being considered. As the company HR leader, you are accountable to the organization to ensure that all employee terminations are initiated and completed while maintaining strict adherence to current employment laws and EEOC guidelines.
Instructions
Write a 5–6 page paper in which you:
- Address your understanding of the term constructive discharge—what is it? Then, identify factors courts might focus on to determine if constructive discharge exists. How might the organization avoid claims of constructive discharge? Hint: Read Constructive Dismissal and Wrongful Termination.
- Discuss the differences between pure employment at will and employment at will with exceptions. Do you believe employment at will is fair? If not, what is an alternative?
- Briefly describe what the Montana Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act (WDEA) is. What do you see as benefits of this act to employees? Employers?
- Identify and discuss a minimum of three actions organizations may want to consider as they seek to handle employee terminations legally.
- Go to Basic Search: Strayer University Online Library to locate at least three quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Answer preview
Employment laws and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines were passed under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect employees from discriminatory acts by employers in hiring, discharge, promotion, and pay based on gender, ethnicity, race, religion, and age. As the human resource leader, one of the organization’s key roles is to ensure that due process is ensured during employee terminations. This means that the whole process should be professional, which involves fair treatment of the parties involves and strict adherence to the legal process involved. The significance of this is that the conversations are guided and shaped so that any potential damages that might result to the company and the employee are minimized. Addressed in this paper include constructive discharge, employment at will, the Montana Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act, and the actions companies should consider ensuring legal termination of employees.
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