Exam 13: Employee Rights and Discipline

Scenario 13.2 Woodbridge Group Inc. (WG), a Canadian consultancy firm, is having a hard time keeping all its employees as a result of the last recession. Most of its clients are based in the United States, and tighter restrictions there have led to some clients severing business ties with WG. With the loss of business, the company claims it cannot afford to continue paying employees even though the company is still profitable. Management is planning to let some of them go, and plans to give them four weeks' pay in lieu of notice. While these employees are not unionized, they do have contracts that entitle them to fixed numbers of weeks worked for each year they have been with WG. -Refer to Scenario 13.2. Either the employer or the employee can terminate the employment contract. What does WG need to do to avoid expensive lawsuits for wrongful dismissal?

Increasing numbers of companies are regulating social media at work.

ABC Corporation induced engineers to leave their old jobs through the promise of better benefits. However, when the engineers started to work for ABC, the company denied making any promises to them. Through its behaviour, what has ABC likely violated?

What is a common reason why dismissed employees tend to accept minimum statutory rights for notice of termination rather than better outcomes sometimes provided through implied contractual rights?

Johnny Damon, the human resource manager at Damon Electric Utility, wants to reduce the pay for one of his employees. The pay is included in the employee's employment contract. How can Mr. Damon legally change the employee's pay?

Which of the following conditions must be met for an employer to summarily dismiss an employee in a non-union environment for off-duty conduct?

Documentation of employee misconduct includes stating the improvement expected by the employer.

Mediation is a formal process resulting in compromise.

Bill has been found guilty of theft, a termination offence. Before he is dismissed, his manager must apply all the steps of progressive discipline.

Scenario 13.1 The Beer Pitt Inc. is a Canadian brewery that distributes premium lager beers across the country. Over the years, the company has been having problems with employees drinking on the job, resulting in arguments, fights, and back-ups on the production line. Because employees are unionized, it has always been difficult to determine that drinking on the job is the cause of the problems the company is experiencing since these problems have been occurring for decades. Recently, however, an employee was injured. The HR department wants to develop and implement new sets of disciplinary policies and procedures to help curb these problems. -Refer to Scenario 13.1. Which of the following accurately represents some of the steps in the disciplinary model that the Beer Pitt needs to implement?

In order to be effective, employee discipline must take place as soon as possible after the problem is verified.

What is the term for discipline programs designed to motivate an employee to correct his or her misconduct by taking responsibility for his or her actions?

Which of the following best describes alternative dispute resolution mechanisms?

Employees have statutory rights that are derived from contracts.

What is another term used to describe a body of decisions from court cases that has developed over time?

Which of the following is a key problem with open-door polices in settling employee complaints?

ABC Inc. has a disciplinary system whereby its programs are designed to motivate an employee to correct his or her misconduct voluntarily. What type of disciplinary program is ABC Inc. most likely using?

Positive discipline is based on a mutual problem-solving approach, but resolutions are still mandated by the HR department.

The correct sequence of progressive discipline is as follows: (1) written warning, (2) oral warning, (3) suspension, and (4) discharge.

What is a key difference between a step-review process of dealing with employee complaints in nonunionized workplaces versus a grievance procedure in a collective bargaining agreement?