Newcorp: Addressing Legal Scenarios

NewCorp: Addressing Legal Scenarios

Employment law in the United States is governed by a variety of statutory and case laws. Legal risks for companies can arise from a variety of situations; therefore managers must understand such risks as the first step in mitigating them. NewCorp, like many companies, does not retail in-house legal consultants, and have assigned one manager to research the legal environment of employment law, including suggestions for resolving specific legal scenarios. Following is a report of three legal scenarios and management’s assessment of possible legal issues and their solutions.

Scenario One

NewCorp hired Pat as manager of real property in Vermont. Pat supervised 51 employees and lower-level supervisors, and he dealt with tenants who leased commercial space. Pat relocated from another city 300 miles away, moved his family, sold his old house and bought a new house. Pat’s wife quit her job to seek employment in Vermont (University of Phoenix, 2012).

Consequently, Pat worked for three months with NewCorp. However, his supervisor informed Pat that things were not proceeding in a satisfactory manner and that he would be terminated from his position with 30 days of severance pay. Pat was surprised because there was no indication of a problem and he remembered a clause in NewCorp’s personal manual stating if the job performance of an employee is unsatisfactory the employee will be notified of the deficiency and placed on a corrective action plan. Furthermore, if the employee’s performance does not improve to a satisfactory level in the specified time period, termination will follow (University of Phoenix, 2012).

Employee laws and regulations are created to protect the rights of the employer and the employee. The liabilities that exist are breach of contract, and wrongful discharge. Although the At-Will law exists in this situation, there is an implied contract within New Corp’s personal manual, which was given to Pat at the time of employment. New Corp is liable to the implied contract; therefore the company should honor the contract. Pat has the right to be notified of unsatisfactory performance, as stated in the manual, and the opportunity to improve his performance. Pat has the right to sue for breach of contract, and wrongful discharge, because New Corp did not honor their contract (Cheeseman, 2010).

Employee-At-Will is a doctrine supported by statutory law, and Wrongful Discharge is supported by case law. New Corp should seek a mutually satisfactory resolution of the case with Pat through an alternative dispute resolution method, such as arbitration or mediation; this will avoid a wrongful termination lawsuit. New Corp should adhere to their performance policy to avoid reoccurrence of this issue (Cheeseman, 2010).

Scenario Two

Sam, a supervisor of the department