The Scarlett Case

Oakmont & Associates

Introduction

On July 25^th, 2015 Veronica Scarlett got off the phone with the HR department, stressed, frustrated, and albeit uncomfortable at her relatively new job. When she moved to Oakmont & Associates, one of the largest corporate law firms in New York, Ms. Scarlet assumed both her superiors and her coworkers would display a high level of professionalism; unfortunately this was not the case. Ms. Scarlett had just finished filing a sexual harassment grievance against her boss, Devlin Brighton, for the second time in the past three months. Despite multiple complaints to the HR department Ms. Scarlett had seen minimal action taken by the company and seen no changes in Mr. Brighton's behavior. Devlin Brighton, a senior partner at Oakmont & Associates, hired Ms. Scarlett as a personal secretary over four months ago. She had spent most of her professional career working as a personal assistant to Jennifer Bertrand; the CFO of Nova Corp., a successful venture capitalist firm. During her nine year tenure at Nova Corp. Ms. Scarlett had never had any problems with her coworkers or superiors nor had she filed any grievances with the HR department.

Oakmont & Associates Background

Oakmont & Associates was founded in 1943. O&A is one of the most profitable private law firms in North America, generating revenue in excess of $1.2 billion per year and operating primarily throughout North America with clients in most major cities. Due to the fact that O&A specialized in corporate law, its clientele was primarily comprised of corporations. Over the past few years O&A had been recruiting a higher amount of associates and junior partners in hopes of expanding its operations. The company started to see a growth plateau in generated revenue last year (2014) and as a result had to slow its rate of recruitment. Currently, 10 senior partners with equal ownership in the company run Oakmont & Associates, all of whom are provided with their own personal secretaries, all secretaries at the firm happened to be female. Because Oakmont & Associates operated through a partnership business model, in the event one of the partners was to be fired they had to be voted out by a majority vote from the senior partners. The senior partners and most heads of departments are male giving little room for any female involvement in the higher levels of management. O&A's corporate culture can definitely be described as "male dominated". Due to the lower rate ofrecruitment there were little to no job openings throughout the firm, especially for the more expendable employees (i.e. paralegals, secretaries, etc.).

Issues leading to Present Dilemma

When Ms. Scarlett began working for Mr. Brighton she noticed he had an overly familiar way of speaking with her, constantly making remarks about how "good she looked that day" or jokingly insinuating she should wear more revealing clothing. At first Scarlett saw it as innocent cajoling, although it did make her slightly uncomfortable at times. She assumed this was simply Mr. Brighton's way of trying to create a lighthearted employer-employee relationship. After a month of working for Oakmont & Associates Ms. Scarlett filed her first formal complaint. She felt Mr. Brighton crossed a line when he began to inquire a bit too boldly in regards to her personal life by asking "who have you been taking to bed these days?" or "I hope I don't have to intervene in the bedroom." The complaint was answered with a brief letter of apology from the HR department assuring Ms. Scarlett that Mr. Brighton would be asked to stop and that they condemn Mr. Brighton's actions. As an apology Mr. Brighton felt it appropriate to extend Ms. Scarlett an invitation to dinner; to which she declined. While on break with a co-worker Ms. Scarlett began to complain about how forward Brighton was being; her co-worker then mentioned that Brighton had been through two secretaries in the past three years, who quit or were fired for "absenteeism," this disturbing news had never been relayed to Ms. Scarlett during the interview/hiring process.

The first complaint was quickly followed by a second when Mr. Brighton pinched Ms. Scarlett's behind on two separate occasions, as what he described to be "a friendly greeting." After examining the transgression, Mr. Green, the HR department rep. (male aged 38), told Mr. Brighton to "take it easy on the pretty thing," told Ms. Scarlett to "lighten up a little bit" and left it at that. Ms. Scarlett was outraged at this response and insisted that further action be taken; however, Mr. Green told her to let him know if anything were to happen again. Despite being given numerous warnings Mr. Brighton's behavior continued for two more months.

Conclusion

It has gotten to the point where Ms. Scarlett has called in "sick" 8 times over that past three weeks because she no longer feels comfortable at her place of work. Mr. Brighton has considered this to be a form of absenteeism and has threatened to fire her. Ms. Scarlett has just sent in her fourth complaint to HR; she has promised herself that if this complaint yields no changes she will either sue Mr. Brighton or quit her job. Neither of these situations are favorable to us as we value both Ms. Scarlett, Mr. Brighton, and of course our public image. Mr. Brighton generates over $100 million for us and is one of our most valued assets here at O&A and Ms. Scarlett is a top tier secretary who we would hate to lose. This is why we've contacted you, you came highly recommended as an HR consultant; we need to resolve this issue quickly and without losing Mr. Brighton or Ms. Scarlett as employees.

Questions:

1. Was the response of the HR representative at the end of the case appropriate? If you are the HR department, how are you going to deal with Mr. Brighton one of the senior partners in this case? (3 Marks)
2. What are the main sources of conflict in this case? (2 Marks)
3. What is the role conflict between the HR representative Mr. Green and Mr. Brighton? (2 Marks)
4. What is Ms. Scarlett's conflict response style? The HR representative? Mr. Brighton? (2 Marks)
5. What possible long-term and short-term solutions would you recommend to solve this problem. Prepare a report for management noting your recommendations, the applicable legislation, and the possible risks and a summary of the facts of the case. (6 Marks)