Case Study: “You Can’t Fire Me! Check Your Policy.” Read the case below,  answers the following questions:

1. What role, if any, should Mary’s past work record play in this case? Explain your answer (and support it with content learned in MBA 605).
2. Does management have a right to know why employees refuse to work overtime? Why or why not? (be sure to support your answer with supportive information.
3. Evaluate the arguments of Mary Schwartz and management in this case.
4. If you were a member of the company’s peer-review complaint committee, how would you vote in this case? What facts would cause you to vote this way?

 

“YOU CAN’T FIRE ME! CHECK YOUR POLICY.”

Supervisors report that discharging an employee is one of the toughest tasks they perform as managers. Furthermore, termination for absenteeism can be particularly difficult due to the causes of absenteeism and, in some cases, the past work record of the employee. This case illustrates a typical absentee problem faced by management.

Mary Schwartz was employed by Beach Electrical Systems for nine years. For the first six years of her employment, she was considered a model employee. Mary’s annual performance reviews were always above average or exceptional, and she was described by her managers a loyal and dedicated employee. However, things changed rapidly in 2005 when Mary became, as her current manager stated, “an absentee problem.”

According to HR department records, in 2009 and 2010 Mary was absent 12 percent and 19 percent of the time, respectively. Her worst year was 2011, when she was absent 27.2 percent of the time. However, unlike other absent employees, Mary was always absent because of genuine and verifiable illnesses or work-related accidents. Mary’s supervisor had talked to her periodically about her attendance problem, but she was never given an official warning notice – oral or written – that she would be fired if her attendance record did not improve.

The incident that caused her termination occurred on Thursday, May 21, 2016. On that day her manager notified all the department employees (eight in total) that they would need to work overtime on Saturday, May 23, 2016, to complete a critical order for a highly valued and important customer. All employees agreed to work Saturday, except Mary, who cited “personal reasons,” which she refused to discuss, for her refusal to work.

On Monday, May 25, 2016, her supervisor, with concurrence from the department manager, terminated her employment for “unsatisfactory attendance.” Mary did not dispute the attendance record; however, she filed a grievance through the company’s alternative dispute resolution procedure alleging that management did not discharger her according to the organization’s published disciplinary policy. She pointed to the section in the policy manual that states, “Employees will be warned for absenteeism before they are terminated.” Mary maintained that she was never officially warned as required. Management replied that Mary was well aware of her absentee problem but that warning her would have served no purpose since she was unable to prevent her continued illnesses from occurring. Additionally, her refusal to work overtime on Saturday was a further indication of her lace of concern for her job or the welfare of the company.