Legal Scenario

NewCorp Scenarios Legal Brief

NewCorp Legal Scenario 1

According to Scenario 1, Pat was hired to work for NewCorp as manager for real property in Vermont. He was responsible for 51 employees. His move to Vermont made Pat sell his house and bought a new house and his quit her job because of the move. After working for 3 months Pat was told by his supervisor that things are not working out and NewCorp is discharging him and giving him 30 days severance pay. NewCorp is an at-will employer and can legally terminate Pat for any reason as long as the reason is legal (Cheeseman, 2010). Also NewCorp has a policy manual the company gives to every employee upon joining the company. The policy manual outlines the termination policy as “an employee will be notified of a deficiency and put on a corrective plan” (NewCorp Scenario 1). According to John Russell, company policy can be regarded as an implied contract (Russell, 2011).

Basing the scenario on the legal encounter, the unsatisfactory performance/corrective action plan requirement was not followed. If Pat’s performance was not satisfactory, the supervisor should have put him on a corrective action plan and have documentation explaining why he is on corrective action plan. Pat only received a notice saying that things are not working out. After checking with human resources for any documentation, it appears that no documentation discussing his performance is on file. Pat signed documents explaining that he is an at-will employee and, he can be terminated anytime for any legal reasons. If Pat’s supervisor is terminating him for poor performance and nothing else he should have told him about his performance not about things not working out. Pat should be put on corrective action plan as stated in the company policy to give him time to improve his performance to the satisfactory level. Also the supervisor should document area of performance that he should improve as stated in the company policy. If Pat does not improve...