Gambling on a Career As you cleaned up your desktop at the end of the day, you paused for reflection about the day's events. The day had not started very interestingly, but it had sure picked up! A state policeman who had been terminated from his job for refusal of a direct work order had come in to see if you would represent him in a wrongful discharge suit against his employer. After listening to his story, you were left feeling unsure about the case. He had said that he would go along with whatever you decided - that if you did not think his case had merit, he would not seek counsel elsewhere. Here are the facts as related to you. Last April, Joe Benn, an eight-year veteran of the State Police and a member of the Baptist faith, was fired for refusing a one-year plain clothes assignment at a casino in the state. The job entailed monitoring activity at the site. Benn claims this forces him to choose between his job and his religious convictions. In your office, Benn stated, \"I believe that there is no way for me to work at the casino and not be involved with gambling. You are part of the process. You're there to facilitate it, to regulate it and enforce the regulations of it. And that involves me in the process of it. This job isn't about protecting anybody other than the state getting their money from the gambling boats.\" He continued, \"We are going to answer to the Lord some day for our actions. I would much rather answer to Him and have Him tell me what I did was right than do what Superintendent Smalley tells me.\" \"I have three small children and my wife stays at home to take care of them. I am the breadwinner. The thing at the back of my mind is 'Don't lose your job, don't lose your job, don't lose your job.' But I had to stand for what I believe in.\" After Benn had left, you called the State Police office and talked with a representative who told you, \"This is about him refusing a direct order from the superintendent. The department has the utmost respect for people's religious beliefs and has worked in the past with individuals to accommodate that. In fact I can give you examples. We have changed work schedules to accommodate religious days and also an individual whose religion called for them to wear a certain type of clothing. But there is a point the department cannot go past, and this is an example of that.\" There is a state law that requires a trooper to be aboard the casino boat before gaming can commence.The process for selecting this monitoring position at the casino first consisted of asking for volunteers from the troopers serving in the region the casino was in or the regions touching that region. If there were not enough volunteers, then all qualified troopers in these regions were placed in a pool and the number necessary were pulled by random drawing. This process was communicated well in advance of the actual selection. Benn has not discussed not being included in the pool in advance of the selection. Benn's name was the first one pulled. The representative also shared that Superintendent Smalley had met personally with Benn to see if a compromise was possible, but Benn flatly refused to discuss anything that involved him being assigned to the casino. Benn had offered to take any other assignment or to transfer to another district (this was after he knew he had been selected). The representative said, \"We have a responsibility to provide protection to the citizens of the state, and having him work somewhere else is not a reasonable accommodation.\" You know the law. You are aware that federal law states that an employer is required to reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs of an employee unless doing so would create an undue hardship. Benn had brought with him a few supporting affidavits. Here are some selected quotes: From John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Center, a conservative law center, \"They (the state police) have to show that accommodating him will cause an undue hardship. If they can't show that, then they will lose as a matter of law.\" From Rev Bud Standish, pastor of Benn's church, \"I think it would have been a defeat of his godly testimony in the eyes of many people. It certainly would have hurt his testimony in my eyes, thus making him a less effective church member and church leader.\" What would you tell Mr. Benn to do? If you were providing human resource management guidance to the State Police, what would your guidance be? The Principle of Just Cause (for Discipline) A discharge is the industrial equivalent of "capital punishment" and will very often be the focus of a grievance, regardless of its ultimate merit, since political solidarity often requires that the union extend itself to try to save a member's job. In discharge cases, management must shoulder the burden to prove its case and that the action met the criteria of just cause. The following points are generally included in the just cause standard. (1) Was the employee forewarned by the Company of the possible disciplinary consequences of this action? (2) Were the company's requirements of the employee reasonable in relation to: a. the efficient and orderly operation of the Company's business? b. the employee's capabilities? (The company rules cannot be unnecessary or capricious.) (3) Did the Company, before taking action, make a reasonable effort to discover whether or not the employee's performance was unsatisfactory? a. No hearsay b. No opinions c. Did the employee have a chance to tell his/her side of the story? (4) Was the investigation by the Company conducted in a fair and objective manner? a. Must keep an open mind b. Must not jump to conclusions (5) Did the investigation produce sufficient evidence of guilt, absent assumptions? (6) Did the Company treat this employee the same as it had treated others under similar circumstances? (7) Did the discipline fit the misconduct considering the employee's past record and any possible mitigating circumstances? a. What was the result of the employee's actions? b. How much harm was done? c. What was the past record of the employee? d. What was the time span between unacceptable actions? (8) Is there evidence of the use of progressive discipline? A \"No\" answer to any of the above questions may indicate that there was not \"just cause\" for the disciplinary action. Format. Causes/Issues Following the methodology described in Step 2 above, you should include all salient information in this section of the case study report. You will need to demonstrate that you have a solid understanding of all the causes and issues contributing to the problem. Further, you must consider the causes/issues because you may, in the process of developing actions/alternatives to solve the problem, attack the causes/issues. In other words, you might choose an action that will eliminate a cause, which would then fix the problem. Or you might choose a different approach that you believe will fix the problem without addressing the cause (if you do this, make sure that the cause won't result in the problem redeveloping). Common Qualitative Criteria The following criteria are commonly used to identify and analyze the advantages (pros) and disadvantages (cons) of proposed actions and alternatives. Additional/other criteria may be used, but a brief explanation of why each criteria is chosen must be given in the case study report. - Acceptance of Affected Parties Safety Cost Competitive Advantage Ethics/Legal Corporate Image Customer Satisfaction You need to select suitable criteria to measure possible outcomes of your alternatives. The above is a list of qualitative and quantitative criteria. It is not totally complete, though the most important for most decisions are in evidence. Add your own to the list. Be sure and define what each of these criterion means in relation to the others. They do not overlap. In essence, all of these can be considered for every decision that you will make. But this is unwieldy and takes more time and resources than we are usually willing to expend in making a decision. For efficiency of resource use, prioritize and select the most important to aid you in your decision making. It will be up to you to decide which are the three key criteria for your analysis. The more targeted and focused in your criteria selection, the better your decision should be. We will practice this in this course. Analysis You have now chosen your problem, its causes, and the appropriate decision criteria. The next step is to develop alternatives. For each case, you will need three alternatives. This is essentially a brainstorming process. What can you do to solve your problem? The answer to that question is an alternative. Brainstorm to develop as many potential alternatives across a wide spectrum. When done, determine which ones best trace to the causes/issues and/or to the problem such that they are most likely to positively affect or solve the problem. Choose the best three. Now that you have three criteria and three alternatives, you need to begin analyzing the first alternative by determining the likely positive and negative consequences of that alternative. The positive and negative consequences for the alternative should be developed based on each of the three criteria. Using the criteria as a framework, what will likely happen if the alternative plan of action is adopted? Repeat this analysis for the other two alternatives. Graphically, this process looks like this: Alternative s Crit eria A Crit eria B Crit eria C Alternative 1 + / - + / - + / - Alternative 2 + / - + / - + / - Alternative 3 + / - + / - + / - When you have completed this process, select the alternative that best provides a resolution to your stated problem. That selection should be based on the results of the analysis (pros and cons for each criteria). And finally, provide detail about implementing the chosen alternative by describing how, who, when, where, and what. Be specific about what would need to happen. Appearance/Mechanics 3 _____ References (2 required) Cited in text of case APA format 2 _____ 2 3 2 3 _____ _____ _____ _____ Required Elements Problem correctly stated? Causes/Issues correctly stated? Selection of criteria with reasoning Implementation fully described Analysis Suitability and breadth of alternatives Depth of Analysis Multiple +/- for each alternative Evidence of research Breadth of Analysis All alternatives addressed Total 3 5 _____ _____ 2 _____ 25 _____ Case #2 Problem Joe Benn, an 8 year police veteran,had been terminated from his job for refusal of a direct work order due to his religious belief; he believes that he was forced to choose between his job and his religious convictions and claims that was wrongfully discharged .The problem in this case is about Joe Benn seeking advice on regarding his further action against the police department. Causes/ Issues There are a lot of issues and causes in this predicament. Benn believe that he's allowed to practice his religious belief and the department is entitled to reasonable accommodate him regarding his faith ; the department believes that Joe Benn must inform the department in advance to be entitled for the accommodation . Prior to lottery ,Joe Benn aware that his name was going to be entered in the drawing and that he has the possibility of being chosen. Despite that, he made no attempt to acquire the reasonable accommodation of having his name taken out of the drawing pot before he was drawn. After his name had been chosen for the job and refusal to follow the order, Superintendent Smalley personally met with Benn to see if any compromise can be made. However , Benn only insist on taking any other assignment or to transfer to another district. Joe Benn's refusal to follow the direct order and failure to compromise with his superintendent leads to his termination Criteria 1.Cost : There will cost associated with lawsuits if Joe Benn decided to file a lawsuit against the department. 2. Legal / Ethic : Depends on the nature of the termination of Joe Ben , Joe Ben could take a legal action by filing a lawsuit. 3. Acceptance of affected parties :Finding a cause that can prove that Joe Benn is in wrongful termination or give him the reason why the termination is not wrongful and he has no merit to file a lawsuit. Alternatives Alt 1: Advise Joe to sue the Department Alt 2: Advise Joe not to sue the Department (ie. move on and find another job) Alt 3: Advise Joe to file a petition to the department and compromise with the Superintendent regarding the tasks. Analysis Pros and Cons of Alt 1: Pros and Cons of Alt 2: Pros and Cons of Alt 3: Select / Implement I would chose alternative ?? References David A.DeCenzo, Stephen P. Robbins, Susan L. Verhulst (November 2012). Fundamentals of HumanResource Management. Publisher: Wiley. Page 59. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/in-supreme-court/1334391.html Rau-Foster, Mary. (2015) Conflict in the Workplace. Publisher: Metro Pro Theme On Genesis Framework. Web article. URL: http://www.workplaceissues.com/arconflict.htm Case #2 Problem The problem is that Joe Benn, an 8 year police veteran, got fired for disobeying a direct order that he claims contradicts his Baptist faith and now he is threatening to sue the police department for wrongfully discharging him. Causes/ Issues There are a lot of issues and causes in this predicament. Benn is entitled to reasonable accommodations regarding his faith however that does not mean that Benn is giving a free pass to choose how is accommodated. Prior to being drawn for this casino position, Benn knew that his name was going to be entered in the drawing and that he has the possibility of being chosen. He made no attempt to acquire the reasonable accommodation of having his name taken out of the drawing pot before he was drawn. After his name had been chosen for the casino position Superintendent Smalley personally met with Benn to see if any reasonable accommodations, or compromises, could be made. However 'Benn flatly refused to discuss anything that involved him being assigned to the casino' and only offered to be transferred to a different district or taking a different assignment. The police department then fired him for disobeying a direct order from the superintendent. Criteria Money: Will he gain enough money to make the alternative worth it? Or will he lose money in this endeavor? Desired Result: Will Joe Benn get his job back? Will he get monetary reimbursed for the harm losing his job caused? Time: Will the alternative save him time? Alternatives Alt 1: Advise that he Sue Police Department Alt 2: Advise that he Not Sue Police Department Alt 3: Advise that he Petition Police Department to Work with Their Accommodations. Analysis Pros and Cons of Alt 1: From a monetary standpoint suing the police department could either leave Benn with a ton of court charges if he loses or a large amount of monetary reimbursement from being wrongfully discharged from his job. This alternative would be ideal if suing the police department could get him his job back and give him an accommodation that wouldn't require him to compromise his religious beliefs. However should he lose the case he would be left in a worse position than when he started because he would have spent money and time on the court case with nothing to show for it. Suing the police department would only be a beneficial use of time if he won the case, losing the case would result in him losing valuable time that he could have used to find another job to provide for his family. Pros and Cons of Alt 2: Advising that he not sue the police department would be beneficial because he doesn't have to risk losing a ton of money if he loses. However he is also forfeiting the possibility of gaining his job or money should he have sued the police department and won. Not suing the police department would deprive him of getting rewarded his job back from the court however not suing the police department would leave him in their better graces which would make applying for a position at their office at a later date, or a different position more feasible. Not suing the police department would save Benn time because he wouldn't have to wait for an available court date, hearing, and all of the other red tape and could immediately continue living out his life. Pros and Cons of Alt 3: Petitioning to hear out the police departments accommodations regarding the casino assignment and allowing him to be rehired should they agree on terms wouldn't have a significant impact on finances because it wouldn't require any money and thus wouldn't lose him any either. Petition the police department could result in a desired outcome should they be able to arrive at a solution that enables Benn to retain his faith while working at the casino. However this isn't a desired alternative because Benn originally had no desire to even talk about compromising in regards to the casino assignment. Though they may not give him his job back, petitioning his previous superintendent would allow for the communication line to be open which could clear up the confusion in regards to the discharge and could allow for a win-win solution to be reached. Petitioning the police department would save Benn a lot of time because he could literally only have to send an email and schedule one meeting with his previous superintendent. Select / Implement I would chose alternative 3, Advise that he Petition Police Department to Work with Their Accommodations, and see if they would be willing to re-hire him. Suing the police department wouldn't be beneficial because they made an attempt to make reasonable accommodations and Benn refused to consider them. No court would rule in favor of a wrongful discharge because he had every opportunity to request reasonable accommodations before the order, as well as working out a compromise that could have kept him his job after the order. Since he would only accept alternatives that would place immense burdens on the police department, it was not a wrongful discharge. \"Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations in the workplace for employees unless doing so creates a burden on the operations of the business.\" (David A.DeCenzo, Stephen P. Robbins, Susan L. Verhulst (November 2012). Page 59.) Since suing wouldn't likely lead in his favor, and not suing wouldn't have any benefits either I would chose alternative 3 and strongly recommend that Benn reach out in the hopes that together with the police department that could reach a compromise that would allow him to remain true to his faith and job at the same time. How this would work is I would advise Benn to send an email to his previous superintendent requesting one final meeting to openly discuss the reasonable accommodations he had previously been unwilling to talk about. With the humble request that should they come to an agreement, that his superintendent consider rehiring him for the job. I would also suggest that Benn view the casino job as a ministry opportunity, and less like a condemnation. After all Jesus often dined with sinners. I would strongly suggest that he listen to the previous superintends suggestions and consider them fully before discrediting them. I would also suggest that he humbly request re-employment with the emphasis on the point that in the future he would be more willing to work with the police department for a reasonable accommodation instead of insisting on the accommodations he would prefer. Though Benn may not see this as an ideal route, because it involves directly confronting the conflict, it would definitely be beneficial for both parties as it would assist in a positive resolution, or at least an understanding that would allow them to part ways in peace. \"Conflict in the right setting, handled in the right way, can be beneficial. It is through conflict that an awareness of the need for some necessary changes can be made.\" (Rau-Foster, Mary. (2015)) References David A.DeCenzo, Stephen P. Robbins, Susan L. Verhulst (November 2012). Fundamentals of HumanResource Management. Publisher: Wiley. Page 59. Rau-Foster, Mary. (2015) Conflict in the Workplace. Publisher: Metro Pro Theme On Genesis Framework. Web article. URL: http://www.workplaceissues.com/arconflict.htm