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Ethics in the workplace
Workplace ethics violations
Ethics in the workplace
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MEMORANDUM CONFIDENTIAL To: Legal Department: Greene’s Jewelry Wholesale, LLC From: Sou Phonyothy Date: September 13, 2017 RE: Green’s v. Lawson-Breach of Confidentiality and countersuit Lawson v. Greene’s Wrongful Termination Questions of Law 1. Did the former employee Jennifer Lawson violate the terms of the confidentiality agreement when she signed the document upon being hired? 2. Did the former employer, Greene’s Jewelry Wholesale LLC, wrongfully terminate Jennifer Lawson? Answer 1. Yes. According to the agreement signed by Jennifer Lawson, upon being hired, she agreed to not disclose any information she learned from her former employer Greene, with the process used to create the Ever-Gold. 2. Yes. Jennifer Lawson announced her …show more content…
Has to be a member of the protected class (pregnancy) 2. Performance is satisfactory Jennifer is looking to countersue Greene’s Jewelry for wrongful termination. According to the Act Jennifer Lawson meets the act; she is pregnant and then gets terminated due to downsizing. She meets half of the second requirement; “she is professional, articulate, diligent and skilled in her role.” Her downfall is that “she routinely shows up 15 to 30 minutes late for work.” According to “The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII.” (EEOC, 2008) Greene’s Jewelry did not violate the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, because they had already planned to down size and remove the position pertaining to executive secretary. In the United States, employment is “at-will,” unless an exact employment contract has been entered by both the employer and employee. When entered as an at-will employment; the employer does not need a specific reason to terminate an employee. If an employer terminates an employee for a definite reason that is unsuitable, the at-will policy does not …show more content…
Upon being hired, she signed an agreement stated that she would not disclose any information she gained from working at Greene in the researched and development department. When Ms. Lawson was terminated, she purposely reached out to Howell, Greene’s competitor, knowing that she had information on how to produce Ever-Gold. She is guilty of breaching her contract with Greene’s Jewelry and also violating New Hampshire Trade Secret Law. “Trade secrets are typically considered to include customer lists, sensitive marketing information, non-patented inventions, software, formulas and recipes, techniques, processes, and other business information that provides a company with a business edge.” (New Hampshire Trade Secret L, 2017) These are the three items Greene’s Jewelry feel that are essential to the case: 1. New Hampshire Trade Secret Law: “the disclosure or use of a trade secret without consent by someone who used improper means to acquire knowledge of the trade secret, for example, an ex-employee who gives company secrets to a rival.” (New Hampshire Trade Secret L, 2017) This pertains to Jennifer Lawson, she contacted Howell, know that she had information on how to produce the
through a public way online, which seemed very unprofessional. I think the outcome of her getting fired
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.
This case concerns Greene’s Jewelry Wholesale, LLC and former employee Jennifer Lawson. Greene’s sues Jennifer Lawson for breach of the confidentially agreement that was signed when first employed and Ms. Lawson counter-sues Greene’s for wrongful termination. Greene’s Jewelry Wholesale, LLC. is owned by Mary Jane and Allen Green, in Derry, New Hampshire. They own a warehouse and two storefronts originally starting back in the late 1950’s. Greene’s employs 502 individuals in a variety of departments which include sales and marketing, research and development, human resources, and manufacturing. The primary asset of Greene’s Jewelry is their secret patented process for creating a synthetic gold-colored material called “Ever-Gold,” which is used in
Ms. Lawson stated she found out he had been fired from two other area hospitals
When determining the characteristics of the accused, under the totality of circumstances The Second Circuit analysis the accused individual experience, background, age, education and intelligence. Green v. Scully, 850 F.2d 901 (2d Cir. 1988). In Green, the court ruled Green’s confession as voluntary. Id. at 894. The court describes Green’s charter: a twenty-three-year-old who had familiarity with the criminal system, street-smart with above average intelligence. Id. at 902. Moreover, in Ortiz, the court ruled Ortiz’s confession was voluntary. Ortiz v. Kelly, 687 F.Supp. 64 (E.D.N.Y 1988). The court describes Ortiz characteristics as an adult familiar with the criminal system, had the capacity to reason, think, and be at his own will. Id. at 66. Therefore, Ortiz’s characteristics did not impair his confession. Id. However, the court in Lewis held that Lewis conviction for bank robbery might have been coerced into an involuntary confession. Lewis v. Henderson, 520 F.2d 896 (2d Cir. 1975). The court used the combination of Lewis’ s
The protection of trade secrets endows the owner of the trade secrets rights to keep others from using and misappropriating his secret. Trade secret protection survives till the time the requirements for protection- value to the owner and secrecy- continue to be met. The protection is lost if the owner fails to take reasonable steps to maintain the secrecy of the information. Besides, disclosure of trade secrets is not actionable in all cases, i.e., trade secrets
Gail Davis was a former executive assistant to the Motown legend, Diana Ross. Davis presided in that position until she voluntarily resigned. About a year later, a letter was written and distributed by Diana Ross, which claimed Gail Davis, along with several other former employees, was no longer employed by her. She further states that the employee's’ work or personal habits may have been unacceptable to her and if used as a reference, she requested to be contacted (Walsh, 2013, p. 164). Also, she states in her letter that she “she do not recommend theses people” (FindLaw, n.d., para. 4)
Employment at will is a law that is present in all fifty states in the US; although, in Montana there requires a stated cause for termination. Employment at will creates dissent among employees when they have been terminated for a cause that is thought to be unsubstantial or when no cause is given. There are pros and cons to the presumption, and employees and employers have different views. Employment at will means that the employer can terminate an employee at any time, for any cause without warning. However, even an at-will employee cannot be terminated because of discriminatory reasons. Employment at will also means that an employee can leave a job at any time without the fear of facing any legal consequences. An employer can also change the terms of employment without notice and no penalties. Throughout this paper, the two sides to employment at will will be discussed, and different examples of employment at will cases will be given. At its most basic, employment at will is not the best path because it can create feelings of violation and betrayal in the employee and can create a negative public opinion or loss of profit for the business.
The employer cited her mental condition and prolonged absence as the reason the dismissal. She decided to enlist the services of an attorney to get her employment benefits if not reinstatement to her job. However, since finishing her follow-up checkups, Dominic Ezeli, her doctor at the community hospital, says he has not heard from her.
Bennett-Alexander, D. D., & Pincus, L. B. (1998). Employment law for business (2nd ed.) [UOP Special Edition Series]. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
...d by her now former boss. One cannot blame him, as the act of returning to a former employment site shortly after being terminated is quite unusual unless inciting trouble is the goal. His son is at this moment being rolled into the ER suffering from an overdose after succumbing to his addiction. He then ignoring protocols insists she help him save his son.
In support of the disclosure restrictions found in OPRA is the Government Records Council. The Government Records Council provides an expanded list of twenty-five (25) disclosure exemptions. The reason for the expanded list of exemptions is because other state and federal statutes govern the disclosure of specific material outside of OPRA. Pursuant to the relevant disclosure exemptions, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1 specifies the following materials as exempt from disclosure: “trade secrets and proprietary commercial or financial information obtained from any source.” And “information which, if disclosed, would give an advantage to competitors or bidders.” Any information which if disclosed would lead to trade secrets becoming compromised or give an advantage to competitors or bidders must be
The story Rachel had written became front-page news with the support from editors Bonnie Benjamin and Avirl Aaronson who were the newspapers legal counselors. Revealing a covert operatives identity is a criminal offence, because the individual who happened to tell the information to Rachel could be a major threat to national security. Rachel was brought into court and was demanded to reveal whom her source
Section 3 of the clause is aimed at preventing such an occurrence but it should be noted that most employees have access to company’s database which is legal. Downloading of some information out of curiosity and using the same to make better trade secrets which are sold to other organizations amounts to economical espionage. This is innocent according to the act because it has no provisions to protect such incidences and need reviewing. The act should stipulate that any intentional or unintentional use of trade secrets for benefits to either the other organization or individual is punishable. The law will be water tight to prevent and disco...
An employer may dismiss an employee for a fair reason - this means the dismissal is substantively fair and if the employer has followed a fair procedure - the dismissal is procedurally fair.