Case Study

CASE STUDY ONE QUESTIONS:

Identify and describe the specific issues Maalick encountered in the workplace. Do the actions of others workers at Treton represent discrimination and harassment? What elements of law are important for Treton to consider?

The first issue that Maalick encountered in the workplace was when he requested a week of vacation and Mr. Jenkins inquired about the reason for the time off. The second issue was when Mr. Jenkins raised several questions about Maalick’s religion and stated “I need some information on this so-called religion before I can make a decision to give you a week off. The third issue was when co-workers approached Maalick with rumors of his religion practicing voodoo, and partakers of witchcraft. The fourth issue that Maalick encountered was when he returned from his vacation to find his office decorated with the voodoo dolls and witchcraft items. The fifth issue was when Maalick reported the incident to Mr. Jenkins about his office being decorated with the inappropriate items Mr. Jenkins laughed and made light of the whole situation. The sixth issue was the little notes that were left in his office and on his car that had racial undertones. The seventh issue was when Maalick went up for a promotion and was looked over and that Mr. Jenkins chose one of his church members. The actions of the other co-workers at Treton represented some form of harassment and discrimination towards Maalick. Harassment is, “The occurrence of harassing behavior in the work environment that has manifests itself in different behaviors such as: social isolation, silent treatment, rumors, false accusations, threats, ridicule, name calling attacking the victim’s private life or attitudes, excessive criticism, monitoring of work, withholding information or depriving responsibility and physical or verbal aggression” (Lockwood, &Marda, 2014, p.1). “Discrimination is the making distinctions- in the HR context, distinctions among people” (Gomez-Mejia,...