Judicial Politics And Behavior
YourFirstName YourLastName
University title

Q.1
Firing or sacking is an informal word for dismissal which is termination of employment by employer against the employees will. Firing is a common term particularly in US and it is also known as as sacked, boned, axed, canned or given walking papers. Being fired as oppesed to qutting the job voluntarily (being laid off), is perceived being the employee’s fault thus considered a sign of failure and disgraceful.
Since finding a new or another job is is difficult after firing and especially if the employee had not held the job or the position for a long period (Hugh, 2005). Mostly probationary employees are dismissed when an employer finds better equiped, skilled and experienced employees than the incumbent even though the employee has ot broken either of the rules. Many times firing is viewed as employees are very negative and m ostly with gross misconduct which is a serious action.
Firing is done on basis of poor work performance, off job- site conduct, attendance problem and problematic conduct. Attendance problems are employees not turning up for work, tardiness or frequent absenteeism. Work performance problems leads to termination even when one has good attendance at a job. If the employees perfoormance does not satisfy the employers standards, the employee is finally fired. It can be on the basis of incompetence, neglect of maintenance, refusal to perform duties, negligence or laziness or lack of the required skills to do their duties.
Gross misconduct offences leads to immediate firing without any further warning. This includes fighting at work, sexual harassment, use of employer’s equipment in non work activity, illeggal activity, violation of policies of the employer, viewing of ponographic sites n the office, use of drugs, failure to attend the compulsory drug tests and padding which is lying out of wages to the employer. Most drivers are fired also because of driving while they are drunk. Employers values, nature of offence and nature of the job will result to termination if he/ she feels unsatisfied.
Chances that makes an employee to win a case in a law suit include: when she chooses a case that has a safety theme. Sexual assault, whistle blower and discrimination are cases that are a threat to the community. Forexample Karen Silkwoods reported on release of plutorium exposing workers in a nuclear plant work place. Also if a financial whistle blower is fired because of letting the public know the financial fraud that is planned by the organization towards causing damage to taxpayers and share holders, the jury becomes consciuos of community and will win the case because it was for the benefit of all thus exposing unethical practices in the finance department.
A case with signs of hostile environment at place of work like the symbol of terror, will have great grounds of winning the case. This is because they will be practicing racism which is illegal and breaches the right of others to work freely which limits their freedom. If the employer violates the golden rule, it will help you survive summary judgement and you will get to jury (Norman, 2008). Big corporations mainly on line of human decency juries will always punish employers who treat their employees bad as none wants to see the employees being treated bad. For example an African –American was fired by the employer of a large utility company that he worked for and knowingly falsely charged with a criminal isdemeanor infront of the co- workers with his belongings packed in a box and the company security guards took his badge and escorted him infront of his car till he got in and seen driving away.
Trial judge allowed them to continue the jury trial for a day and bailed him out where the trial was the following day. The ruling was made and they paid the man they had fired amount of $ 283,000 where judgement was sustained on appeal. A case with human resource departmentwhose the administrator is bad and has retaliation policy which are not implemented and has discrimination because it will add up to a good damage award. They are called “dinosaurs” or inept human resource administrators. They are mainly racist and un caring because they have served for long, do not have degree, not certified and unqualified.
Consistency in the documentation is key (Stephen, 2009). Harmony between the employer’s reason for why the firing took place and the documentation on the employee’s work history can mean the difference between a simple parting of ways and a prolonged and messy legal battle, and employment attorneys know this. If an ex-employee’s lawyer, looking for evidence of a wrongful termination, sees a lack of consistency in the employee’s personnel files or a lack or records at all, employers should consider that blood on the water.
Another very important consideration is whether an employee slated for possible termination is a member of a protected class. Federal law prohibits discrimination based on a number of factors such as race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, or citizenship.State and local laws also can provide additional protection to employees. For example, no federal law currently protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation but a large number of states do. State-by-state comparison of 50 employment laws in all 50 states, including sexual orientation discrimination, final paycheck, unemployment compensation, and noncompete agreements.
Another very important consideration is whether an employee slated for possible termination is a member of a protected class. Federal law prohibits discrimination based on a number of factors such as race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, or citizenship. State and local laws also can provide additional protection to employees. For example, no federal law currently protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation but a large number of states do. Unemployment compensation is one such issue that can leave the specter of a former employee haunting an HR pro’s office long after the employee was fired. Again, having good documentation that shows the employee was fired for misconduct can be critical in an unemployment compensation hearing. Winning in these hearings can save an employer big bucks in the long run. References
"History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938 - 1996". Department of Labor. May 14, 2013.
Keith Ewing, Aileen McColgan and Hugh Collins ( 2005), Labour Law, Cases, Texts and Materials Hart Publishing
Norman Selwyn, (2008). Selwyn's Law of Employment Oxford University Press
Stephen F. Befort and John W. Budd. (2009), Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: Bringing Workplace Law and Public Policy Into Focus Stanford University Press

Q2. How do courts affect legal policy beyond their decision on the merit and how do appellate courts (i.e trial courts) affect legal policy.
The supreme court approximately hears 5000 cases a year. The court chooses to select handful of cases to formaly review because of time and resources constraits since not all are of equal merit. Justice compiles and circulates a “Discuss List” of cases that might warrant supreme court review where they meet and finally vote on the case to hear. As number of cases have to be narrowed down from the “Discuss List”, several standards are used by justices to determine which case is justiciable. First,the court decide if it has juridication in the case. If not,the case is not heard and in the entire history the court has heard original jurisdication that is less than 200.
The court generally refuses to rule on political questions and believes that they can be handled better by other government branches. Cases that have no dispute, or standing is rejected. For the court to act on a case, the persons involved must show that they sustain “injury in fact” and that they are harmed in a real way.
When the court decides to hear the case, all the records and supporting documents handled by lower courts are asked to be surrendered. This helps them review decisions made by juries and lower courts judges instead of conveying new jury. When justice begins to weigh merits of cases brought before them, inside the supreme court chamber, the attorney on both sides do present their oral arguements. Oral arguements are rare deciding factor of the court’s decision. Since the importance is the legal briefs that are filed by interested parties, each side and “friend of the court” who want the court to ramificate the case.
For a court to be consistent and credible, it has to refer to previous supreme court deision adhering to letting previous decisions prevail or stand. On rare occassions, the previous supreme court are reversed when it gets no alternative except to reject “bad” or outtdated decisions, the court decision is the “Majority Opinion” that outlines legal precedent and logic behind the decision made.
Constitutional law governs Judiciary, Legislative and Executive branches. Mostly the supreme court stands between National Government and the people so as to avoid improper interpretation of the constitution and abuse of power. The court’s ruling have permanency of
So as to reduce agency disrcetion, supreme court accepts though gradually the delegation by legislative authority as long as there are clear standards for administration of duties. When the president is not in a position to define how and when to use the authority that statute delegation to him because law has no clear standards , it is called a case of delegation run amok. In some cases, it’s not that the delegation of authority is ill-defined but seems limitless forexample , a criminal prosecution that the court invalidated for violation of Live Poultry Code.
It was viewed as unfair competition law that was signed in the year 1934 by president Franklin D. Roosevelt pursuant to another section of National Industrial Recovery Act. The president had been given the mandit to formulate codes of fair competition that would suit any industry that would to affectuate policy of the law. Someone charged with violaton of the law was not given right to be heard at the agency and hearing, no right to notice of charges, and no right to challenge agency’s determination in a lawsuit. This law was struck down by the court stating thst unfair proceures were used by strong industrial groups to improve their commercial advantage over small proceedures.
U.S supreme court held its improper for state agency to deny welfare benefits to applicants that met conditions for entitlement of benefits that are defined by the legislature. Therefore, the state must have due process in oral hearing of the cases before the benefits are terminated. Government institutions involved in setting annd enforcing public policy must politically be accountable to the electorate. President needs flexibility in carrying out executive duties although the responsibility of the organization and structure of executive branch is vested in congress.
The opinion of puplic to investigate complaints of misconduct for administrative is another forceful weapon against unbridled agency action. Agency usually gives the ffected or interested persons notice and opportunity to be heard before the final rule or order is made and issued. Rule making focusses on the future while adjudication focusses on the past.
The practice of publishing the case thirty days (30) before a rulling is made to all the publics gives those that are interested and affected by proposed rule of opportunity to participate in decision making with a written data by offering arguements or view in writing or orally. The law seeks that individual rights are protected while the agencies on the other hand have enough freedom of action to perform their job. A serious problem is seen when the court ssets aside agency decision that’s clearly wrong. This is because the court is limited to querring the agency if they went outside authority granted, if proper procedures were used in reaching the decision and if the decision is clearly wrong for it to be set aside.
The Supreme Court is considered to be the last word on legal decisions, being highly selective about which cases it chooses to consider. It only accepts cases that have been through the lower courts and appeals processes until there are no other options and no satisfactory resolution to the issue at hand. This paper will discuss various aspects of the Supreme Court, its purpose and functioning, and other characteristics.
The purpose of the Supreme Court is not to create law, but rather to interpret law and whether or not the issues being considered are consistent with the United States Constitution. The words that are written above the entrance to the Court, EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW, describe the most significant responsibility of the Supreme Court: it is the highest court in the nation for any and all disputes arising under the Constitution or the laws. It is the final arbiter of the law and it is tasked with guaranteeing that the American people have equal justice under the law. It is essentially the guardian and interpreter of the Constitution (The Court and Constitutional Interpretation, 2011.)
The Supreme Court is comprised of the Chief Justice and eight Associate Judges, a number that is determined by Congress. The President has the responsibility of nominating justices, whose confirmations are determined by the United States Senate. These appointments are lifetime tenures. In addition, there are court officers who are instrumental in helping the Court perform its duties, including clerks, librarians, marshals, a curator, and a reporter of decisions
The Supreme Court receives cases in one of two ways. Cases known as “original jurisdictions” are issues that arise from lawsuits between states. The vast majority of cases taken on by the Supreme Court are received on appeal from lower federal courts or state supreme courts (What Is the Supreme Court? 2010.) However, prior to a case be accepted by the Supreme Court on appeal, the case proceeds through “certiorari,” in which case four Justices are required to agree that the Court should hear the case and issue a legal document called “a writ of certiorari”, permitting the case to proceed (What Is the US Supreme Court? 2010.) If such a writ is not issued, the lower court decision will stand.
References
JM Feinman, (1976). 'The Development of the Employment at Will Rule' The American Journal of Legal History 118.
Dau-Schmidt, MH Malin, RL Corrada and CDR Camron (2009), Labor Law in the Contemporary Workplace (4th edn).