Scenario

Mr. Con Fused has been an employee at Regional Hospital for the past five years. His employment there was recently terminated. The reason for thetermination was: Inability to follow instructions. However, Regional has adopted an "at-will" policy. So in reality, no reason has to be given for the termination. Never the less, Mr. Fusedwas very upset at his termination....so upset, that he went to the media with his story.

Scenario for Post 1

You work forthe human resources department at Regional.The hospital attorney is preparing for a news conference regarding the termination of Mr. Fused. In an effort to help the attorney, you draft justifications for an "at-will" termination of a hospital employee. What are your reasons for supporting this policy? Your job is to convince the public that this is a necessary and useful policy.

Scenario for Post 2

Now you work for a public advocacy group that has decided to help Mr. Fused. You hold a news conference in response to the hospital's news conference. What flaws do you find in the hospital's position? Why is "at-will" wrong for the medical industry? Be sure to read through posts of your fellow students, then select the "hospital" post that interests you the most.

Scenario for Post 3

Now you choose. Read the posts submitted by the class. Which side seems more logical to you? Should the medical industry abide by an "at-will" doctrine? Why / why not? Be sure to cite to a fellow student's post.

Example:

Scenario

Mr. Con Fused has been an employee at Regional Hospital for the past five years. His employment there was recently terminated. The reason for thetermination was: Inability to follow instructions. However, Regional has adopted an "at-will" policy. So in reality, no reason has to be given for the termination. Never the less, Mr. Fusedwas very upset at his termination....so upset, that he went to the media with his story.

Scenario for Post 1

You work forthe human resources department at Regional.The hospital attorney is preparing for a news conference regarding the termination of Mr. Fused. In an effort to help the attorney, you draft justifications for an "at-will" termination of a hospital employee. What are your reasons for supporting this policy? Your job is to convince the public that this is a necessary and useful policy.

According to Pozgar and Santucci (2016) the common law employment-at-will doctrine provides "that employment is at will of either the employer or the employee, where the employee or employer may terminate employment for any or no reason, unless there is a contract in place that specifies the terms and duration of the employment" (p. 492). Throughout history, an employee's termination of employment for any reason was generally accepted, but recent contemporary thinking has changed that. Mr. Fused was terminated as an employee at our organization for his inability to follow instructions, some may not think this reason for termination is valid but according to our organization's by-laws and employment manual it is very valid.This reason for termination is not an exception to the employee-at-will doctrine; there is no issue with public policy (he was not fired because of his race, sex, religion, etc), contractual relationships or retaliatory discharge. Upon Mr. Fused's employment with our organization, he was given his own copy of our by-laws and our employee manual.In these two documents it states how we would like our employee's to perform and how to conduct their behavior in the workplace.In the employee manual it specifically states that employees should follow any and all instructions perfectly, Mr. Fused thought it was right that he could cut corners and skip instructions that were laid out for him and the other employees. By not following instructions Mr. Fused was putting patients, fellow employees, and himself into danger. Mr. Fused is a liability to our organization that is why he was terminated and our organization will continue to abide by the "at-will" doctrine.

Word Count: 262

Reference

Pozgar, G. D., & Santucci, N. M. (2016).Legal aspects of health care administration. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Scenario for Post 2

Now you work for a public advocacy group that has decided to help Mr. Fused. You hold a news conference in response to the hospital's news conference. What flaws do you find in the hospital's position? Why is "at-will" wrong for the medical industry? Be sure to read through posts of your fellow students, then select the "hospital" post that interests you the most.

Jessica,

On behalf of Mr. Fused your organization failed to honor Mr. Fused's right's as an employee. The "at will doctrine" your hospital abides by provides that employment is at will of either the employer or the employee, where the employee or employer may terminate employment for any or no reason, unless there is a contract in place that specifies the terms and duration of the employment (p. 492). You state that Mr. Fused could have terminated his employment at any time, why would he? If he felt that he was doing his job correctly he does not want to quit the job, especially if he enjoys it. Mr. Fused was never given any guidelines or policies to abide by, if he had received those documents you would have proof that he was violating them. How do you know that Mr. Fused had an inability to follow instructions? These allegations are based on other people's word and verbal instructions that could change when they are coming from different managers. If your organization had concrete guidelines that Mr. Fused was aware at the beginning of his employment that he needed to abide by, you would have a case. But this did not happen; therefore Mr. Fused's employment was wrongfully terminated. This "at-will" doctrine is not logical for the medical industry because there are so many different scenarios and instances that can happen and people act differently in those situations. As long as there are ethical guidelines in place that employees follow, they should be able to conduct treatment as they see fit and beneficial to the patient.

Word Count: 266

Reference

Pozgar, G. D., & Santucci, N. M. (2016).Legal aspects of health care administration. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Scenario for Post 3

Now you choose. Read the posts submitted by the class. Which side seems more logical to you? Should the medical industry abide by an "at-will" doctrine? Why / why not? Be sure to cite to a fellow student's post.

The medical industry should abide by the at-will doctrine because the industry is so diverse. This meaning that there are so many different scenarios and instances that can occur and people react differently to those situations. According to Pozgar and Santucci (2016) the common law employment-at-will doctrine provides "that employment is at will of either the employer or the employee, where the employee or employer may terminate employment for any or no reason, unless there is a contract in place that specifies the terms and duration of the employment" (p. 492). The at-will doctrine is beneficial for both the employer and employee because there are no hoops to jump through if employment needs to be terminated. If an employee has a contracted employment with an organization there are not many loopholes in that contract for the employer or employee. Once they sign that contract, they are both stuck for the terms of that contract. In some instances that may not be a problem, but that commitment can be risky. So many different outcomes can occur in the medical industry; you cannot list all of the offenses that can lead to termination because of that.

Word Count: 194

Reference

Pozgar, G. D., & Santucci, N. M. (2016).Legal aspects of health care administration. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.