As a recently hired Chief Operating Officer (COO) in a midsize company, multiple personal problems are quickly discovered that require immediate attention. As an astute manager, there is a need to analyze the employment-at-will doctrine and determine if there are any exceptions and liabilities before taking any action. In addition to the personal problems, it is discovered that the company has a no whistleblower policy. By the end of this paper, you will be able to review a summary of the employment at will doctrine, review scenarios of the personal problems of the company and determine if the employee could be legally fired, get an overview of ethical theories, identify whether or not the company should adopt a whistleblower policy, and review justifications of at least three (3) fundamental items that should be included in a whistleblower policy.
Employment-At- Will Summary
During recent years, the principle and practice of employment at will has been under attack. Employment-at-will has been a fixture in the United States employment law since the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800’s. In the simplest and earlier state, employment at will meant that an employee who worked for an indefinite period of time worked at the will of the employer. Absent a contractual provision to the contrary, either party could terminate the employment for any reason. At least 55% of all employees and managers in the private sector of the workforce in the United States today are “at-will” employees (Radin & Werhane, 2003). On the surface, employment at will appeared to be a neutral doctrine fiving both the employer and the employee a way out of an undesirable employment relationship. However, the doctrine in practice worked to the benefit of...
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In Laduzinski v. Alvarez & Marsal Taxand LLC, plaintiff was looking for a job with defendant, Alvarez & Marsal Taxand LLC. Plaintiff, Laduzinski, claimed that he was lured away from his job under false pretenses since defendants hired him to get access to his contacts. Nine months later, after plaintiff had given all his contacts, the manager of the Alvarez companies fired him because there was no work for him. Laduzinski brought a claim to recover damages for fraud in the inducement. The lower court dismissed plaintiff’s claims because plaintiff was an “at will” employee. After Laduzinski appealed, the issues were whether the complaint stated a cause of action for fraudulent inducement, despite that Laduzinski was an at-will employee; and whether the alleged misrepresentations were actionable statements of present fact or non-actionable future promises.
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In 1980, a precedent was set in a Michigan court case involving a man named Charles Toussaint who was suing his employer, BlueCross Blue Shield, for wrongful termination based on the guidelines set in the employee manual (Alfred and Bertsche 33). The manual stated that employees would only be terminated for just cause, and the court decided that Blue Cross had violated the agreements in the employee manual (34). The court also ruled that even with Blue Cross’s efforts to provide a document that “issued non-binding guidelines” the employee manual was a contract and Toussiant was wrongfully terminated (34). After the precedent set by this case many employers and employees for that matter were reviewing their employee manuals for the type of ambiguous language that could allow them to get sued or sue. Consequently, a slew of wrongful termination lawsuits followed this one, which is why it is now important for employers to draft their manuals with experienced legal staff. Even with the best legal team and the perfect wording there is still no definite assurance that an employer will be completely protected from such lawsuits, but taking these preventive measures helps in the long run.
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The American employment laws are designed to foster human dignity and in the process provide employees with various tangible benefits. It is therefore expected for employees to be on the forefront in supporting and adhering to them. Likewise if an organization applies effectively these laws, it can benefit massively from dynamic, healthy, motivated, and productive employees. It therefore goes without saying that managers, just like employees, should promote these laws and thus ensures the organization conforms to them. Generally these laws govern the workplace actions of employers and employees. It ensures a fruitful and legally conducive environment and relationship exists between these two parties, and within employees themselves. Violating them cannot only put the organization effectiveness on jeopardy or defying employee employment at risk, but also it can lead to serious legal repercussion (Yamada, 2008).
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The doctrine of employment at-will provides that employers may hire, transfer, promote, or terminate employees at any time for any cause, and employees have the right to resign at any time with or without notice (Reed & Bogardus, 2012)....