case study

Joan Von Willebrand was a phlebotomist at City Hospital. Her supervisor, George Parker worked as a member of the phlebotomy team. George reported to Gloria Garica, a unit manager of the laboratory. Joan had been employed City Hospital for 5 months when she was discharged for chronic tardiness. Gloria initiated the discharge with the concurrence of George. When the matter was turned over to HR, Gloria told HR that had been given written warning for clocking in more than 30 min late on 3 prior occasions. Gloria also said, "there were numerous other occurrences that had been overlooked or that had resulted in undocumented oral warnings"

Joan complained that the 6:30 am starting time for the morning blood-collecting rounds was too early for her. She stated that as a single mother, she had the responsibility of looking after one child. Even though she lived with relatives, she had difficulty getting to the hospital on time. She also stated that when she was hired, George had led her to believe that blood-collecting job was temporary and that a regular opening in the lab, starting at 8:00 am, would be available in 2 or 3 months. Gloria had criticized George for being too lenient and for not following organizational policies. He had delivered at initial oral warning as required. However, on subsequent occasions, he repeated the oral warning and never issued written warnings. She said that George was inconsistent in his behavior, often not reprimanding Joana for behavior that did not comply with the organization's policy. George started delivering written warning after Gloria prompted him to do so. According to hospital policy, four written warning after tardiness consisted grounds for discharge. George gave this information to Joan each time she received a written warning. After receiving the fourth written warning, Joan was fired.

Although George and Gloria both admitted to the possibility of mentoring a regular technician job in the future, they both convinced that there had been no promises. The HR recruiter supported these facts and said he had also mentioned to Joan the possibility of moving into a different job should one become available but had made no promises.

Joan took her complaint to the State, claiming that her firing was unwarranted and unfair. Although she had been late a few times, she said, she never failed to stay and make up the time and she had always performed her assigned duties. However, George cast some doubt on this claim. He said that on days when Joan was late, he and another technician to cover extra territory to make up for the missing employee.

Joan charged that the written policy meant very little because early in her employment she had been later several times, but on these occasions she had not received a warnings. She charged management in general, and Gloria in particular, with using the tardiness policy as an excuse to get rid of her. What procedural errors were made in the handling of Joan von Wilebrand's case? How would you rule on Joan case? What would be the basis for your decision?