TO: Bob Smith, CEO
FROM:, Elementary Division Manager
DATE: January 21, 2014
SUBJECT: Title VII Employee Claim
A claim has been filed by a former employee under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The claim is that due to a recent policy change that requires employees to work four days consisting of twelve hours each then be off for four days was discriminatory based on the fact that employees would have to work on a religious holiday.
Constructive Discharge and Its Relationship To This Claim
In resolving this claim, courts may use what is known as constructive discharge. In this case the complainant would have to prove that the decisions were made solely to force them to quit. There are many things that have to be proven to actually make a constructive discharge claim. The company had to have made a change that led directly to the complainant’s resignation. The complainant also would have had to resign in a reasonable enough amount of time to show a relationship between the schedule changes and their resignation. In addition to that relationship the complainant will need to demonstrate that the working conditions as a result of the schedule change were so intolerable that any reasonable employee would have quit under them. What is not constructive discharge is if a person had a long withstanding item that they didn’t like and it wasn’t so intolerable they didn’t quit right away. They also would not have a constructive discharge case if they simply quit because they didn’t like the change, and the business made it for a just business reason (Niznik).
It should be noted what is considered a hostile work environment is a rather rare finding. There usually has to be a significant amount of racism or criticism based on age, sex, origin or religion. Merely speaking even having a boss or coworkers who are bullies is not even enough to prove a