Exam 18: Terminating Individual Employees

Regarding the termination of individual employees, it is NOT correct to say that:

Which of the following is a circumstance under which the public policy exception to employment at will is recognized?

You are the HR Manager for your company. One of your employees has been actively involved in demonstrations at City Hall, protesting the city s refusal to adopt any environmentally-friendly ordinances or practices. While at these protests, he is often wearing a company T-shirt, and you are concerned that news reports of the demonstrations will lead people to conclude that your company is protesting the city s environmental policies, something which your Board of Directors has not authorized. You should:

An employment manual contains a notice and disclaimer that the employment is entirely at will, and also contains a progressive discipline system which recites an escalating series of notices and warnings before termination. If an employee is terminated immediately, and the progressive discipline system is not followed:

Which of the following is required for a successful implied contract wrongful discharge claim?

A veteran teacher was told by a school superintendent that he would recommend that the school district not renew her contract at the end of the school year. Rather than contest the recommendation, the school teacher retired. What is the best assessment of this situation?

Over lunch, a manager at Microsoft says to another manager, You know, just between you and me, it might not have been the worst thing in the world if the court had ordered the company to break-up. We really are too big. The comment was overheard by another employee at the next table and passed on to higher-level managers. If the manager is fired for making the statement and she sues Microsoft, a court would most likely rule:

This occurs when a party takes action in reliance on the promise of another, who then breaks that promise.

You have just been hired as the new HR Director of your firm, and have received a complaint and summons served by the sheriff, relaying the lawsuit filed by a former employee. As you read through the complaint, you can see that the employee himself wrote it (and not a lawyer), but think you recognize what your predecessor did wrong. It was this:

In a constructive discharge:

Among the factors considered by the courts in determining whether a quit was actually a constructive discharge are all of these EXCEPT:

The legal environment for public employees differs from private sector employment because public employees:

Which of the following is generally required to establish just cause for a termination?

A salesperson makes a large sale for which she is entitled to a commission. To avoid making the payment, the employer terminates the employee. The legal claim that best applies to this termination is:

After a troublesome time with a new manager, an employee who had always had highly positive reviews returned from vacation to find that her desk had been cleared out, all of her belongings were in boxes, and her office was being used for storage. While she was on vacation, her new supervisor had called, asking where certain documents were located. When he found the employee s answer unsatisfactory, the supervisor said, Well, this is the last straw. What is the best assessment of this situation?

In Dillon v. Champion Jogbra , Dillon claimed a wrongful discharge maintaining that modifications of the employee manual created an implied contract negating the employer s claim that she was an at-will employee. The court said:

Due process includes:

An employee of a family-owned car dealership suffered an injury while lifting computer equipment on the job. The employee reported the injury to the HR department, and sought worker s compensation benefits. The owner of the car dealership was convinced that the injury was actually incurred in a stockcar accident, and told a supervisor to get the employee to sign a form waiving his right to receive worker s compensation for the injury. The supervisor (a brother of the owner) was told that if he didn t get the employee (who happened also to be his son) to sign the waiver, both of them would be fired. A waiver was never signed, and both employees were terminated. They sued. All of the following are most likely true, EXCEPT:

Just cause is required for the discipline or discharge of unionized employees because:

The Montana Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act (WDEA):