Jeremy works at County Beer Company as a forklift driver. He has been employed for five years, without any prior discipline or notable performance problems. Yesterday, he drove his forklift into a pallet of empty beer bottles, breaking about 60 bottles and making a huge mess. Amanda, the HR Manager, interviewed him and he admitted that he was wearing his headphones and must not have been paying close enough attention to his surroundings. He apologized and said he knew he was not supposed to wear headphones while working, though he noted too that lots of people do. Amanda reviewed the Employee Rules that are posted on the bulletin board in the cafeteria. One of the Rules states: Headphones are not, under any circumstances, to be worn during working hours.

The Rules also include the following: Any employee who violates one of these rules may be subject to the following disciplinary procedures:

A written warning to be entered into the employees personnel file; and/or

A suspension without pay for a duration determined appropriate by the Employer; and/or

Immediate dismissal, without notice, for violations deemed to be serious by the Employer.

Amanda asked Jeremy if he was aware of the Employee Rules document posted in the cafeteria. He responded that he might have noticed it before, but hadnt paid much attention to it and no one had really ever talked to him about it. Amanda elected to terminate Jeremys employment for cause without notice. Her reasoning was that she deemed the violation to be serious in that it had the potential to have seriously harmed someone. Additionally, he had broken the no headphones rule and she wanted to make sure that an example was set so that other employees would know that they had to take the Companys rules seriously.

In your opinion, are Amandas actions on behalf of County Beer legally defensible? Explain your answer.

Questions to Guide Your Analysis:

1. Does Amanda have the legal/contractual authority to terminate Jeremys employment without cause?

2. What options are available, if any, to Jeremy if he decides to legally challenge the termination? Explore the likely outcomes of these options and any remedies that might be awarded to Jeremy.

3. Do you feel Amanda should have handled this situation differently? If so, what recommendations would you provide to her about other options that she could have considered?

4. Moving forward, what can Amanda do to help avoid similar incidents from occurring in the future?