Assignment 2: Employment-At-Will Doctrine

Due Week 5 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.

1. John posted a rant on his Facebook page in which he criticized the company’s most important customer.
2. 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”
3. Bill has been using his company-issued BlackBerry to run his own business on the side.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.

In preparation for this assignment, use the Internet to research your state’s (North Carolina) employment-at-will policy.

Write a five (5) page paper in which you:

1. Summarize the employment-at-will doctrine discussed in the text and then evaluate three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining:
   1. Whether you can legally fire the employee; include an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine.
   2. The primary action(s) that you should take to limit liability and impact on operations; specify the ethical theory that best supports your decision.
2. Examine your state’s (North Carolina) policy on employment-at-will. Analyze at least one (1) real-world example of an employee or employer utilizing your state’s employment-at-will doctrine in the last five (5) years. Include a summary of the main issue and the outcome in the identified real-world example.
3. 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:

• Analyze and apply the concepts of freedom versus responsibility and ethical decision making.
• Analyze and evaluate laws that protect against discrimination in the workplace.
• 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.