Essie has recently graduated from accounting and has applied for a graduate position with TSC, a very prestigious accounting firm. She is very surprised when she is notified that she received an interview. At the interview, she is told the day-to-day tasks and what would be involved in the position. Very eagerly, she accepts the job.

A week later, Essie starts at TSC. She is very surprised with several aspects of her new position. First, while she was told at the interview that the work hours were from 9am to 5.30pm with a one hour lunch break, she finds that she is expected to arrive well before 8am and not leave before 7pm. Further she finds that all employees at TSC eat their lunch at their desks and continue working. When she tries to leave work on her second day at 5.45pm, her line manager calls her into his office and explains to her that staying until 7pm is pretty much expected of their employees and if she wants to do well at the firm, she must do the same. Essie is not pleased as she always picks up her younger brother from after-school care, which does not operate after 6pm. When she mentioned this, the manager shrugs and tells Essie that they can easily get another 'keen' graduate to take her job. Worried that she will be fired, Essie does not say anything further.

However over the next few weeks, she start to bring her brother to the office after school. He does not disturb anyone and sits very quietly in her office with his school work. The line manager is not pleased with this at all and Essie is very upset when she overhears the line manger speaking with the HR manager in the coffee room. The line manager says that they should not have hired Essie and should have looked for a male graduate who will not have the same responsibilities. The line manager also mentions the promotion that is coming up for one graduate to become an assistant manager. The line manager mentions that because Essie is so busy and wants to leave work early, the promotion isn't really suitable for her.

Unhappy after hearing the discussion between the line manager and the HR manager, Essie takes a few minutes alone in the file room. Harold, one of the senior associates is looking for a file on the shelves and asks Essie to hold the ladder for him as the ladder is old and tends to rock back and forth if not held by another person. Essay holds the ladder, but when one of the unsecured boxes falls from the shelf and hints Harold, both Harold and and the ladder fall on top of Essie, causing her to sprain her wrist. It is her right wrist and she she is right handed. It will make doing work very difficult for Essie and Essie is worried that this will give the line manager further reason to fire her.

While Harold is helping Essie with her sprained wrist he mentions that he is very upset with TSC as well. He tells Essie that he has been working at TSC for over fifteen years as a senior associate and was a junior associate and a graduate at TSC before that. Recently he has been told that due to a restructure, all senior associates have been stripped off their position and will just be associates. There will be four new executive associates that will take change of the four divisions of TSC. Harold is not pleased with as the new executive of their division is Nate. Harold and Nate went to university together and Harold became a senior associate while Nate was never promoted and moved jobs servers times. Nate will not be Harold's supervisor and Harold will have to revert to the type of day-to-day activities of a junior associate. When Harold brought this up with the manager, the manger offered him the position and said if he didn't want it then there were other who would. Harold has just received a notice of termination of employment. Essie tells Harold about her experience. Harold and Essie come to you for advise.

a) Essie would like to know:

i. about the hours and whether she should be required to stay longer

ii. about the comments made by the line manager regarding her positions and possible promotion

iii. Any claim she can make for her injury

iv. whether she can be fired for either bringing her brother to work, leaving at 5.30pm or because she is unable to to do her work with her injury

b) Harold would like to whether TSC is able to terminate his employment