Employee Dismissal Scenario: Hudson's Building Services Case Study

Read the David Miller case from Chapter 5. After reading the case, describe a reason why someone who has been entrusted with the firm’s assets would commit a fraudulent act against the company. Based upon your understanding of the case and your professional and personal experience, recommend a series of actions that should have been taken in order to pre

We would need to review and make sure that all the appropriate measures are being taken in a timely manner if someone complains about their working environment. Specific steps and procedures need to be followed to protect our company and our employees. In Pennsylvania State Police v. Suders (2004) the Supreme Court found that in order to establish constructive discharge a plaintiff must show that the environment was so intolerable that resigning was the only option. But the court also found that the plaintiff failed to avail herself of the internal reporting procedures as she resigned two days after mentioning harassment to an official. The case supports our position of not guilty because the employee who is filing charges against us did not follow the company’s internal reporting procedures. This would have allowed us to meet with the employee to see if we could come to an agreeable solution. Internal reporting procedures are there to protect everyone involved.

Company X is committed to providing education for each employee to report unethical behavior and resolve conflicts without fear of retaliation. One such example would be the need to report employee theft. Employee theft is not only unethical but could also be criminal in nature. Regardless of employee status (entry level or upper management), each employee should feel it their responsibility to report any unethical behavior they observe. Employee theft can range from theft of money, time, office supplies or merchandise to providing proprietary information to unauthorized entities. These activities can result in a negative public image of Company X and should be reported as quickly as possible. Prior to reporting such offenses, each employee should ensure the accuracy of the evidence they will be reporting. There are various methods to report such abuses including but not limited to an anonymous toll free hot line number, verbal or electronic reporting to the local Human Resources office and the open door policy which encourages employees to approach members of management without the fear of

The actions to take constitute the employee’s responsibilities in responding to allegations or suspicions of abuse. Always follow policies and procedures and report to the appropriate person(s), record the facts on appropriate paperwork, listen do not judge, stay calm and collected, and do not tamper with evidence.

4.) Employee Compliance to the Code: The entire staff is expected to be compliant to the rules and regulations set forth by Company X. Reported accounts of non-compliance will lead to an internal investigation of both the accuser as well as the accused; disciplinary action will necessarily follow if company rules and regulations have not been adhered to or improperly dismissed. Granted that there are many different situations that could arise in which one would believe unethical behavior or misconduct transpired; therefore, it is suggested that first the issue in question is evaluated before presenting to one’s direct

Your workplace will have it’s own policies and procedures in place detailing and to who you should report your suspicions to and the correct course of action to follow.

Select the appropriate investigative approach: If the complaint is not resolved, determine what action is required, which may include options other than a formal investigation. This can

Physical evidence, information from a reliable source, or a professional’s opinion, of work related misconduct or illegal activities occurring are valid reasons for investigations. “Employers’ intrusions on constitutionally protected privacy interest … investigations of work-related misconduct, should be judged by standard of reasonableness under all the circumstances.” O’Connor v Ortega, 107 S. Ct. 1492 (U.S. 1987).

The main issues in the case include allegation about one of the supervisors in the building safety office, the assistance of the deputy city attorney, the division of Building and Construction Permits and Inspections and the necessary step to take about the allegation. Major human resource themes that are related to this case include scientific management, paradox of needs, the changing workforce in regard to generation x and personnel administration.

Recently, San Jose Mercury News reported that a 39-year-old woman was charged with embezzlement. It is alleged that the woman used company credit cards to pay for various personal items, vehicles and trips. She is also accused of using company checks to pay her rent and give herself unauthorized bonuses and overtime. The woman, who worked as an office manager, allegedly stole funds in excess of $1 million over the course of a

A month previously Ramos received a phone call to a company hotline from fired employee, Betty Koster, who had been working in the accounting department for the past 8 years and believed that her termination was based on age discrimination. As Ramos already knew from her experience, calls from employees usually lead to investigation and should be handled immediately in order to avoid any possible lawsuit. After investigation of Koster’s employment file and interview with her supervisor, Simon Peel, Ramos understood that she needed evidence from Koster about age discrimination, since having been the oldest in department and the only person fired does not prove the allegation. When Ramos conducted a second call to the employee, Koster was very emotional and revealed new information about possible noncompliance with accounting procedures. Based upon her statement, sales representative Mark Tomkin, was alleged to have asked the accounting team to process entries without required approvals and or all required documents. Koster was the only one who did not agree to post anything into the accounting system without supporting documents. This was the reason why she believed that she had been fired.

And finally, there is the issue of staff mismanagement. The supervisor, Keith Frazier, is only checking in with this department one to two times per week. Mr. Frazier is aware that Pat is making international phone calls. He is also aware that Pauline found a way for Pat to make these calls from the building’s elevator once he had the phone system modified to only allow internal calls. Mr. Frazier has also been fielding complaints from the accountants about not receiving their tax schedules in a timely fashion. However, he has failed to confront either of these issues. This lack of management can be attributed to the following:

According to Walsh (2000) one of the major reasons for employee theft is low morale at the workplace. Second a lack of control over inventory. Sometimes young employees are subjectivity to peer press to be part of the group can encourage theft. The employee feels that the business or company has wronged or mistreated them in some way. This may be why employees feel underpaid and under-appreciate for their “hard” work done. Like any crime, there must be motive, method and opportunity. It is easy to steal because the employer does not have preventive measures to stop them. Preventive measures are crucial to reducing the risk of employee theft. If preventive measures are not existent then the opportunity to steal is very high. Employers should limit the opportunities to steal. Employers should open their own mail, segregate duties, and particularly bookkeeping functions. Also, employers should not have the check writer balance the checkbook and do not use cash. Younger employees do not think prudently, and tend to be impulsive (Walsh 2000). This is also a major reason why businesses suffer from low production and profit loss.

Facts: Employee was stealing time and money from the company by submitting bogus technically difficulty offline requests to cover up that he was late work due to taking his son to school.

Normally, we would work through tasks as they appeared on the list which allowed us to have different jobs every night, so this wasn’t routine for this employee. This is completely wrong in many different ways, because not only was the employee stealing the product, he was also not old enough to purchase or drink alcohol. Since, I was the person put in charge of the store that night I had to decide what to do in this particular situation. There are a few different ways to handle this situation. I could have called the police and let them handle it, but to my knowledge this was the employee’s first time stealing anything from the store. I don’t think the employee needed to be fined or charged for making a small mistake. I think that most people would have told upper management and let them handle the punishment, but this was a good employee and I didn’t want to look like that bad guy. I confronted the employee about the issue and explained that it is not right to stealing from the store. I explained that he was putting me in a tough position, but I wasn’t going to tell management unless it happens again. I don’t think that he ever tried to steal anything after that night. Being upfront with him and letting him know what the consequences would be got my message across. Theft is a big problem in retail locations; in my case there are only a few people that are working in a large store, so it