Freda, the head of HR in a large corporation, receives an e-mail from Jason, who was recently terminated. Jason had been terminated for below average production. Freda knows that the reasons for his termination were well-documented in his personnel file. In his e-mail, Jason alleges that his supervisor, Doris, made several inappropriate comments of a sexual nature to him over the past few months. Freda decides on a course of action.There are all sorts of legal problems that can arise because of termination. One of the big issues that lawyers see is that issues surrounding the termination are not documented. Because things can go wrong in a termination, it necessitates having clear policies and procedures that are consistent for everyone so that you don’t run up against discrimination issues. This week will be an exercise in taking concepts that you have learned in previous weeks, such as policies, handbooks, and discrimination, and applying them to a new topic, termination.
TO DO LIST:
Discussion: Read the article and describe best practices for HRM specialists when conducting a termination.
What You Need To Know: Cases and articles this week focus on termination, so that you can apply those concepts to the termination issue in the HR Challenge: Oral Argument assignment.
Prepare: Read the articles about presenting an oral argument and begin planning your strategy for your oral argument.
Discussion Overview
Read the article and describe best practices for HRM specialists when conducting a termination.
What You Need to Know
Legal Background
Read the course file, Legal Background: Termination [PDF], for a basic understanding of the topic for this week. This background information is intended to support your learning like a section of a textbook.
Cases
It is recommended that you identify the main argument and decision of all of these cases by reading the abstract for each case. Then select one case to analyze using the IRAC method.
E.I. Dupont de Nemours and Company v. Pressman, 679 A.2d 436 (Del. 1996).
Focus area: Breaches in good faith.
Lazar v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, 909 P.2d 981 (Cal. 1996).
Focus area: Fraud.
McQuirk v. Donnelley, 189 F.3d 793 (9th Cir. 1999).
Focus area: Bad job references.
Termination
Each of these articles are less than one page, but they highlight current termination issues in the HRM field that you will reference in your discussion.
Document exactly why you decided to fire. (2019). HR Specialist: Employment Law, 5(1), 12.
Fired for getting married: Does that count as sex discrimination? (2019). HR Specialist: Employment Law, 49(2), 4.
How to legally deal with a post-termination vent letter. (2018). HR Specialist: Employment Law, 48(7), 6.
Pink slips for union backers: A a75k mistake. (2019). HR Specialist: Employment Law, 49(2), 3.
You dont have to give employees a reason for termination. (2017). HR Specialist: Employment Law, 47(5), 4.
Oral Argument
Frey, A. L. (n.d.). Preparing and delivering oral argument [PDF].Appellate Defenders, Inc. Available from http://www.adi-sandiego.com/
This is a seminal article on preparing for the different parts of an oral argument.
National Association of College and University Business Officers. (2010, February 24). Making effective oral presentations. Retrieved from https://www.nacubo.org/Conferences-and-Workshops/Speakers-Corner/Making-Effective-Oral-Presentations
This is general information about making oral presentations that should help you prepare your scripts.
Write Your Discussion Post
Defensible Terminations
Read the following article for this discussion:
Frick, R. E. (2019, August). Decided its time to terminate an employee? Now what? Talent Management Excellence Essentials.
According to Frick (2019) there are some steps that an employer can take to keep terminations both manageable and legally defensible. Describe 23 of these steps and suggest strategies the HRM professional might implement within the workplace to make smoother terminations. Provide workplace examples where possible.
