Sandy Clark has worked for Healthy Meals Company for 10 years in a facility that cooks and packages prepared, frozen meals. Sandy is part of a crew that provides cleaning and sanitation services for the equipment used to prepare the meals. She has always sustained an excellent work record with no complaints about her work performance. She was recently assigned to the night shift to clean and sanitize the equipment used to mix and dispense sauce for the meals. The equipment consists primarily of a large vat and a rotating paddle with wooden blades driven by an electrical motor to continuously stir the sauce. After the meal preparation crew finishes production for the day shift, Sandy’s work begins cleaning and sanitizing the equipment for production the next day.

Sandy was trained to clean and sanitize the equipment by observing an experienced member of the sanitizing crew who had been performing the work for the past three years. During her training, she was instructed to use a high-pressure water hose, bleach, and sanitizing cleaner on the paddle blades and the lower part of the vat, then use a sponge pad to scrub the top part of the vat. Her trainer explained that the best way to get the wooden paddles thoroughly clean was to spray them while the machine was running, then turn off the equipment and lock it out before she used the sponge pad to clean the inside of the vat. After two days of training, she demonstrated to the person who trained her that she could satisfactorily perform all the duties of cleaning the equipment.

During her second week of working alone cleaning the vat and the wooden paddles of sauce residue, she was spraying the paddles using the high-pressure water hose while the machine was running with the paddles turning in the vat......

Questions 1. Do the facts in this case indicate that Sandy Clark was guilty of a willful violation of the company’s safety rules?
Explain your answer.
2. What possible corrective action could the company take as an alternative to discharge?
3. If Sandy is represented by a labor union with a current labor agreement or contract stating that “employees shall only be discharged for just cause,” how could this affect her termination?
4. What particular mitigating factors or circumstances in this case should be considered in determining whether or not her termination is for just cause?