...a. Explain how constructive discharge as a legal concept is relevant to the scenario. Under Title VII and the ADEA, a constructive discharge occurs if an employee resigns their position after being subjected to unlawful discrimination then the resignation may be found to be a “constructive discharge”. Most constructive discharges take place when employees resign because their employer's behavior has become so intolerable or made life so difficult that the employee has no choice but to resign. In some instances the employee must not only prove that working conditions were intolerable but they also must prove that employer created the condition for the intent of forcing that person to resign. In our scenario a production employee X insist that we have discriminated against him because we require that he work on a religious holiday. We have mandated that all production employees are required to work shifts that cover each day of the week based on manufacturing demands and financial considerations. If we change the policy for 1 employee we would also need to change it for all production employees or we could be open to discrimination complaints. Consideration for all production staff to excuse them days of religious celebrations would cause significant difficulties in staffing manufacturing lines and keeping up with productivity goals resulting in lost revenue and expenses. Regulations covered by the EEOC (Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) do include policies...
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...Toy Company USA| To:|John Johnny, CEO| From:|--- || Date:|7/9/2012| Re:|Constructive Discharge of Former Employee. Research and Response.| Comments:|Following your request to investigate how our company should respond to the recent claim by a former employee under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 after our schedule policy change I have made several notes regarding how we should respond to their claim.A. Constructive Discharge: According to an article by the Denver Business Journal a person cannot sue for a constructive discharge. While this statement isn’t completely true, it is very difficult to prove Constructive Discharge, which means that an employee resigns because working conditions are so unpleasant or difficult that a reasonable employee would feel compelled to resign. The employee must provide evidence or notification, in writing, regarding the cause for them choosing to resign and then allow the employer fifteen days to respond, in writing, to those allegations. In order to prove that there was a constructive discharge the employee, or in this case the former employee, must “preponderance of the evidence that the articulated reasons are a pretext for discrimination” as noted in Duffy V. Paper Magic Group Inc. 1988. Also as noted in this case it is very difficult for the former employee to provide evidence that this was the case. In the United States Supreme Court decision in the Pennsylvania State Police V. Suders 2004 it was shown that the former...
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...| USA Toy Company | Memo To: Company CEO From: Plant Manager CC: Company Attorney Date: 5/18/2013 Re: Companies Response to an Ex-Employee’s Claim of Constructive Discharge and the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Law How is Constructive Discharge Relevant to this Situation? Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of their race, color, religion, national origin, or sex (Shaker, n.d.). This law provides legal recourse for employees to seek Constructive Discharge for discrimination of their legal rights if they believe a change to a policy or procedure has violated their rights (Shaker, n.d.). The law specific to religious beliefs applies to this situation that has occurred within the company. On November 1, 2011, the Human Resource (HR) Department provided training to the each of the division managers regarding a change to the employee work shift schedule to begin on January 1, 2012. This change was a direct result of the company’s increase in growth and production demand. Following the meeting, each division manager scheduled a date and time that week for their employees to receive comparable training from the HR Department. The HR personnel also relayed to the employees that the change in work shift schedule was a necessary response to the company’s increase in growth and production demand. Employees were given the same opportunity as the division managers to ask questions, receive feedback,...
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...under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, constructive discharge, after a work schedule policy change. The employee, who quit after the policy change took effect, is alleging that the enforcement of the company’s new policy on shift work is discriminatory because the policy requires employees to work on a religious holy day. In the past, production employees worked Monday through Friday. As a result of company growth, the production schedule was changed at the beginning of the New Year, requiring employees to work 12-hour shifts with four days at work and then days off. The four workdays can occur any day of the week, Monday through Sunday. The entire production staff is required to work this rotating shift. Office staff members had no change in their schedule and continue to work from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. As requested, I have done some initial research into how the company should respond to the employee’s claim. Constructive Discharge Constructive discharge is a legal term that references a situation in which an employee feels “no other choice” but to resign their position due to alleged intolerable working conditions such as workplace harassment or discrimination as defined under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Two Supreme Court cases in 1998 provided some guidance regarding employer liability and defense for Title VII claims, but failed to address the issue of constructive discharge and the employer’s ability to defend themselves...
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...Employment & Legal Issues: Former Employee’s Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Constructive Discharge Claim Western Governors University Internal Memorandum To: CEO, Toy Company From: Student Date: November 3, 2014 Subject: Former Employee’s Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Constructive Discharge Claim Constructive Discharge * A constructive discharge occurs when an employer "deliberately makes an employee's working conditions so intolerable that the employee is forced into an involuntary resignation." (Jenkins V. State of Louisiana Department Of Corrections, 874 F2d 992 (5th Circuit 1989, June 7) bullet point 12) * A constructive discharge generally happens when an employer creates a working environment/conditions that are so unbearable for a reasonable employee that would result for that reasonable employee to resign. * At the start of the year, the company implemented a new production schedule policy that required all production employees to work 4, 12 hour shift with the following 4 days off Sunday through Saturday. The policy was implemented to accommodate the company’s growth and production needs and it was not based on race, color, religions, sex, or national origin etc. A former employee has filed a constructive discharge claim against the Toy Company, claiming that he/she was decimated against based on religion by forcing he/she to work on their religion holy days. The working conditions have not been made unbearable...
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...TO: CEO XYZ Toys SUBJECT: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Constructive Discharge Success in sales and marketing has resulted in an increased demand for XYZ Toys. In response to this increase in demand, a shift change was implemented for all production employees. The new schedule requires employees to work in 12 hour shifts, with four days on, and four days off, Monday through Sunday. One employee resigned from the firm, and has filed suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), claiming constructive discharge on the grounds of religious discrimination, as the change in work schedule required the employee to work on a religious holy day. The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify the legal position of XYZ Toys with regards to the suit filed against the firm, and to make recommendations to guard against future legal issues based upon Title VII. Constructive Discharge The production shift schedule change required the employee to work on a day that the employee regarded as a holy day. A reasonable person might then conclude that XYZ Toys has created a work environment which is intolerable, and the employee had no option other than to resign ("Constructive Discharge/Forced To Resign," n.d.) The suit filed by the Complaint is based on religious discrimination, and is valid under section 703. (a) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which defines unlawful employment practices. (a) Employer...
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...Date: 10/8/2011 Subject: Constructive discharge claim by former employee Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a former employee is claiming “constructive discharge” for religious discrimination following his recent resignation. Constructive discharge means that the employer’s discriminatory practices made working conditions so intolerable that any reasonable person would have resigned (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC], Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices). Title VII prohibits discrimination for race, color, religion, sex, or national origin for companies with 15 or more employees working on a given day (EEOC, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964). Since our company has more than 15 employees, we are legally required to abide by Title VII. Additionally, under Title VII, an employer is required by law to provide an employee religious accommodations once the employee request it, assuming it does not place an unreasonable hardship on the employer (EEOC, Religious Discrimination). The facts discovered to date are: 1. The former employee was a long term, valued, well liked, employee with a stellar performance reviews and employment record. 2. The resignation occurred after the new 7-day work schedule policy went into effect. 3. We can find no record of written or verbal communications between the former employee and any level of management and/or HR where the former employee: a. Made management and/or HR aware that he considers...
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...recently notified me in regards to a past employee who put forth an alleged claim against our toy company, utilizing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The former employee is also saying that constructive discharge has taken place, stating that he was forced to leave the company due to his religious beliefs. From this point forward I will provide adequate information from multiple sources in efforts to make educated recommendations to ABC Toy’s. A. Constructive discharge. As of January 1, ABC Toy’s implemented an updated work schedule to assist with the company growth in efforts to meet the consumer demands. ABC Toy’s required employees to work a rotating schedule that included 12 hours of work time daily, but only 48 hours a week. Those 48 hours may be scheduled any day of the week, Monday through Sunday. This policy was put in effect for the production staff, requiring all production staff members to work this rotating shift, and consequently some of those rotating days happened to be a day of religion for the disgruntled former employee. The former employee resigned, shortly, after the work schedule was put in place. As a result of this schedule change the former employee is alleging that constructive discharge took place at ABC Toy’s. Constructive discharge was put in place by the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board), and states the following; “The NLRB held that an employer ran afoul of the Act not only when it directly fired an employee in contravention...
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...Memorandum of constructive discharge complaint JDT2 Task 1 Shira M. Blanchette Western Governors University TO: Jean Jones, CEO FROM: Shira Blanchette, HR director DATE: 10/4/13 SUBJECT: Constructive discharge complaint A. Constructive Discharge The Zippeedoo Toy Company has been experiencing huge growth over the past year, leading to a change in scheduling for production personnel. Where all personnel once worked eight (8) hours per day, five (5) days per week, it became necessary to shift production personnel to a rotating schedule of twelve (12) hours per day, four (4) days on, 4 days off throughout the month. This led to personnel being scheduled over the weekend, as well as during the week. Employees were required to work from one to three Sundays per month, depending on rotation. When the new schedule was announced, Mr. Tibbet resigned his position in the production group. He has filed a claim of constructive discharge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which alleges that Zippeedoo Toy Company required practices which conflicted with his religious beliefs, forcing him to leave the company. Constructive discharge is an illegal and discriminatory practice that forces an employee to resign employment due to intolerable working conditions. In order to meet the criteria of a constructive discharge, Mr. Tibbet must prove that his resignation occurred a) due to conditions that any reasonable person would...
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...To CEO from: Elementary Division Manager Date: April 4, 2013 Re: Constructive Discharge This is a memo which summarizes all my findings in accordance to our former employee allegation against Company under Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964, Constructive Discharge. I have reasonably provided my details which certainly might help in making the decisions at corporate level and that would benefit Company. A: Constructive discharge is generally when working conditions are so intolerable as to amount to a firing, despite a lack of a formal termination notice. Unemployment benefits are unavailable when an employee quits, however a former employee may still get unemployment benefits when a constructive discharge can be proven. Local laws should be consulted for applicable requirements: A. In any action under the statutes of this state or under common law, constructive discharge may only be established by either of the following: 1. Evidence of objectively difficult or unpleasant working conditions to the extent that a reasonable employee would feel compelled to resign, if the employer has been given at least fifteen days' notice by the employee that the employee intends to resign because of these conditions and the employer fails to respond to the employee's concerns. 2. Evidence of outrageous conduct by the employer or a managing agent of the employer, including sexual assault, threats of violence directed at the employee, a continuous pattern of discriminatory harassment...
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...To: CEO From: Stephany Dotson Subject: Title VII Civil Rights Act of 1967, Constructive Discharge Claims Date: 08/19/2014 A former employee has filed a claim against our company under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, constructive discharge. Constructive discharge in the eyes of the court is when an employer makes the working environment intolerable, the employee then quits because of the intolerable work environment (http://business.laws.com/sexual-harassment/civil-rights-act-of-1964). The former employee is claiming that because of the policy change in work schedules for the production members he was forced to quit because of discrimination to his religious practices that we are requiring him to work on their religious holy day. The former employee did indeed quit shortly after the policy change and he was not fired. Our response to this current situation, with this former employee, is we can offer the employee his position back with our company with the requested holy days off and floating days for his religious holidays. His requests do not put a strain on our company and should be granted based off the Title VII of the civil Rights Act of 1964. As shown below similar court cases have established what an employer must do in a religious discrimination case. As stated in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “Employers generally should not refuse to allow observance of a Sabbath or religious holiday, unless the employer can show that...
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...Task A: The legal concept of constructive discharge can be defined as willful termination of employment by an employee due to intolerable working conditions. Whether those conditions are created by the employer, or merely allowed to exist at the workplace. The concept continues that any reasonable person would feel the same way if in the same position (Justia.com, n.d.). Essentially, the employee quits because they perceive the working environment to be intolerable. Constructive discharge applies to several different forms of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In this case, the former employee is charging that the toy company violated their religious beliefs by forcing them to work on a holy day. Initially, the toy companies schedule for production staff was 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Recently, due to company growth, the toy company has changed the production staff schedule to rotating 12-hour shifts, working four days on and four days off. This change in schedule would require that staff, normally accustomed to a Monday through Friday routine, would need to adapt to a new schedule that would require them to work Saturday and Sunday from time to time. The facts presented in the scenario state that the former employee quit after the policy change. Further, the employee alleges that the new policy is discriminatory by forcing employees to work on a religious holy day. Constructive discharge is relevant then as the perception...
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...toy company interoffice memorandum to: | Ceo of toy company | from: | elementary division manager | subject: | review of constructive discharge allegations | date: | May 1, 2014 | cc: | toy company attorney | | | A. Constructive Discharge as a Legal Concept Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from workplace discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin. When an employer engages in practices that create a hostile work environment for any of these protected groups, making conditions so intolerable that an employee feels compelled to resign, it is known as constructive discharge Former employee Andy Anderson now alleges that our company engaged in religious discrimination when our production schedule changes went into effect at the first of the year. The changes required all production employees to occasionally work on a religious holy day, and Mr. Anderson has submitted a constructive discharge claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to an article in the University of Chicago Law Review, courts generally apply two tests when deciding if constructive discharge has occurred. The first is the reasonable person test, meaning that the working conditions are so intolerable that a reasonable person would conclude that resigning is the only recourse. The second is the specific intent test. The plaintiff must show that the employer “created those conditions with the specific...
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...Memorandum To: CEO, JDT2 Task 1 Toy Company From: John Doe, Elementary Division Manager Date: 2/24/2015 Re: Summary of Alleged Discriminatory Claim under Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, Constructive Discharge Research A. Constructive Discharge The former employee is claiming that he was forced to resign from his position due to the fact that he must work on a religious holy day. His claim is based on the feeling that the company has purposefully made his working situation unendurable through an, alleged, discriminatory work schedule change. As referenced in an article by Alison Doyle on About.com, titled ‘What is Constructive Discharge?’, Alison defines constructive discharge as the following: Constructive discharge occurs when an employee is forced to quit because the employer has made working conditions unbearable. Unbearable conditions include discrimination or harassment, or receiving a negative change in pay or work for reasons that are not work-related. This situation could be considered constructive discharge grounded on the assertion of the former employee’s feeling that he was forced to resign because he is required to work on his religious holy day whereas he was not required to work on this day in the past. This particular action may be categorized as a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Evidentiary fact of a possible violation include that the employee has always had weekends off of work and that was based on the old production...
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...Toy Company | To: | CEO | | | CC: | Human Resources Manager | Date: | 7/15/2014 | Re: | Constructive Discharge Claim | The Toy Company’s Attorney and the Human Resources Director is investigating an employee complaint of Constructive Discharge Claim to the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In order to control cost we are doing an initial response on how should the Human Resources and the Company’s Attorney should respond to the employees claim. A. Constructive Discharge How constructive discharge is relevant to this case? An employee filed a claim against the toy company under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 of Constructive Discharge. The employee was not happy about the change in the work schedule, which requires him to work on his religious holiday. The Toy Company existing work shift policy is starting 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. However, the new work policy for the beginning of the year would be a 12-hour shift from Monday through Sunday. According to USLegal.com, "Constructive Discharge is when working conditions are as intolerable as to amount to firing, despite the lack of a formal termination notice. (USLEGAL, 2001-2014)” The employee strongly felt that the new work policy would be very unpleasant or the conditions to work on his religious day would be unworkable, so he quit his job. B. Title VII According to the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the definition of Title VII of the Civil Rights...
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