Strayer LEG500 Week 4 Assignment 1- Employment-At-Will Doctrine

LEG 500 Week 4 Assignment 1-
Employment-At-Will Doctrine
Assignment 1: Employment-At-Will Doctrine
Due Week 4 and worth 150 points
Imagine you are a recently-hired Chief Operating Officer (COO) in
a midsize company preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). You quickly
discover multiple personnel problems that require your immediate attention.
John posted a rant on his Facebook page in which he criticized the
company’s most important customer.
Jim sent an email to other salespeople protesting a change in
commission schedules and bonuses and suggesting everyone boycott the next sales
meeting.
Ellen started a blog to protest the CEO’s bonus, noting that no
one below director has gotten a raise in two (2) years and portraying her
bosses as “know-nothings” and “out-of-touch”
Bill has been using his company-issued BlackBerry to run his own
business on the side.
The secretaries in the accounting department decided to dress in
black-and-white stripes to protest a memo announcing that the company has
installed keylogger software on all company computers.
After being disciplined for criticizing a customer in an email
(sent from his personal email account on a company computer), Joe threatens to
sue the company for invasion of privacy.
One of the department supervisors requests your approval to fire
his secretary for insubordination. Since the secretary has always received
glowing reviews, you call her into your office and determine that she has
refused to prepare false expense reports for her boss.
Anna’s boss refused to sign her leave request for jury duty and
now wants to fire her for being absent without permission.
As an astute manager, you will need to analyze the
employment-at-will doctrine and determine what, if any, exceptions and
liabilities exist before taking any action. As you proceed with your
investigation, you discover the company has no whistleblower policy.
Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:
Summarize the employment-at-will doctrine and evaluate each of the
eight (8) scenarios described by determining:

Whether you can legally fire the employee; include an assessment
of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine.
What action you should take to limit liability and impact on
operations; specify which ethical theory best supports your decision.
Take a position on whether or not you would recommend to the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) that the company adopt a whistleblower policy. Support
the position.
Justify at least three (3) fundamental items that should be
included in a whistleblower policy. Provide a rationale for your selection of
each of the three (3) recommended items.
Use at least three (3) quality resources in this
assignment. Note: Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference and
proprietary Websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12),
with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or
school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional
instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the
student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover
page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page
length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this
assignment are:
Apply the concepts of freedom versus responsibility and ethical
decision making.
Compare the legal concepts of corporate governance with the ethics
of corporate social responsibility.
Analyze and evaluate the employment-at-will doctrine and
exceptions, as well as the protections afforded whistleblowers.
Explore the legal and ethical issues surrounding employee and
consumer privacy.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in
law, ethics, and corporate governance.
Write clearly and concisely about law, ethics, and corporate
governance using proper writing mechanics.