Assignment 2: Employment-At-Will Doctrine

October 23, 2025 Claire B 0 Comments

Assignment 2: Employment-At-Will Doctrine

Due
Week 5 and worth 150 points

Imagine
you are a recently-hired Chief Operating Officer (COO) in a midsize company
preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). You quickly discover multiple
personnel problems that require your immediate attention.

1. John
posted a rant on his Facebook page in which he criticized the company’s most
important customer.

2. Ellen
started a blog to protest the CEO’s bonus, noting that no one below director
has gotten a raise in two (2) years and portraying her bosses as
“know-nothings” and “out-of-touch”

3. Bill
has been using his company-issued BlackBerry to run his own business on the
side.

4. After
being disciplined for criticizing a customer in an email (sent from his
personal email account on a company computer), Joe threatens to sue the company
for invasion of privacy.

5. One
of the department supervisors requests your approval to fire his secretary for
insubordination. Since the secretary has always received glowing reviews, you
call her into your office and determine that she has refused to prepare false
expense reports for her boss.

6. Anna’s
boss refused to sign her leave request for jury duty and now wants to fire her
for being absent without permission.

As
an astute manager, you will need to analyze the employment-at-will doctrine and
determine what, if any, exceptions and liabilities exist before taking any
action. As you proceed with your investigation, you discover the company has no
whistleblower policy.

In
preparation for this assignment, use the Internet or Strayer Library to
research your state’s employment-at-will policy.

Write
a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:

1. Summarize
the employment-at-will doctrine discussed in the text and then evaluate three
(3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining:

a. Whether
you can legally fire the employee; include an assessment of any pertinent
exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine.

b. The
primary action(s) that you should take to limit liability and impact on
operations; specify the ethical theory that best supports your decision.

2. Examine
your state’s policy on employment-at-will. Analyze at least one (1) real-world
example of an employee or employer utilizing your state’s employment-at-will
doctrine in the last five (5) years. Include a summary of the main issue and
the outcome in the identified real-world example.

3. Use
at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note:
Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference and proprietary Websites do not
qualify as academic resources.

Your
assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

Be typed,
double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins
on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific
format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a
cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the
professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the
reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The
specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

Analyze
and apply the concepts of freedom versus responsibility and ethical
decision making.
Analyze
and evaluate laws that protect against discrimination in the workplace.
Analyze
and evaluate the employment-at-will doctrine and exceptions, as well as
the protections afforded whistleblowers.
Explore
the legal and ethical issues surrounding employee and consumer privacy.
Use
technology and information resources to research issues in law, ethics,
and corporate governance.
Write
clearly and concisely about law, ethics, and corporate governance using
proper writing mechanics.

Clickhere to
view the grading rubric for this assignment.

Grading for this assignment will be based on
answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing
skills, using the following rubric.

Points: 150	Assignment 2: Employment-At-Will Doctrine
Criteria	Unacceptable Below 70% F	Fair 70-79% C	Proficient 80-89% B	Exemplary 90-100% A
1. Summarize the employment-at-will doctrine discussed in the text. Weight: 10%	Did not submit or incompletely summarized the employment-at-will doctrine discussed in the text.	Partially summarized the employment-at-will doctrine discussed in the text.	Satisfactorily summarized the employment-at-will doctrine discussed in the text.	Thoroughly summarized the employment-at-will doctrine discussed in the text.
1a. Evaluate three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining whether you can legally fire the employee; include an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine. Weight: 25%	Did not submit or incompletely evaluated three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining whether you can legally fire the employee; did not submit or incompletely included an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine.	Partially evaluated three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining whether you can legally fire the employee; partially included an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine.	Satisfactorily evaluated three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining whether you can legally fire the employee; satisfactorily included an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine.	Thoroughly evaluated three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining whether you can legally fire the employee; thoroughly included an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine.
1b. Evaluate three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determiningthe primary action(s) thatyou should take to limit liability and impact on operations; specify which ethical theory best supports your decision. Weight: 25%	Did not submit or incompletely evaluated three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determiningthe primary action(s) that you should taketo limit liability and impact on operations; did not submit or incompletely specified which ethical theory best supports your decision.	Partially evaluated three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determiningthe primary action(s) that you should taketo limit liability and impact on operations; partially specified which ethical theory best supports your decision.	Satisfactorily evaluated three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining the primary action(s) that you should take to limit liability and impact on operations; satisfactorily specified which ethical theory best supports your decision.	Thoroughly evaluated three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining the primary action(s) that you should take to limit liability and impact on operations; thoroughly specified which ethical theory best supports your decision.
2. Examine your state’s policy on employment-at-will. Analyze at least one (1) real-world example of an employee or employer utilizing your state’s employment-at-will doctrine in the last five (5) years. Include a summary of the main issue and outcome in the identified real-world example. Weight: 25%	Did not submit or incompletely examined your state’s policy on employment-at-will. Did not submit or incompletely analyzed at least one (1) real-world example of an employee or employer utilizing your state’s employment-at-will doctrine in the last five (5) years. Did not submit or incompletely included a summary of the main issue and outcome in the identified real-world example.	Partially examined your state’s policy on employment-at-will. Partially analyzed at least one (1) real-world example of an employee or employer utilizing your state’s employment-at-will doctrine in the last five (5) years. Partially included a summary of the main issue and outcome in the identified real-world example.	Satisfactorily examined your state’s policy on employment-at-will. Satisfactorily analyzed at least one (1) real-world example of an employee or employer utilizing your state’s employment-at-will doctrine in the last five (5) years. Satisfactorily included a summary of the main issue and outcome in the identified real-world example.	Thoroughly examined your state’s policy on employment-at-will. Thoroughly analyzed at least one (1) real-world example of an employee or employer utilizing your state’s employment-at-will doctrine in the last five (5) years. Thoroughly included a summary of the main issue and outcome in the identified real-world example.
3. 3 references Weight: 5%	No references provided	Does not meet the required number of references; some or all references poor quality choices.	Meets number of required references; all references high quality choices.	Exceeds number of required references; all references high quality choices.
4. Clarity, writing mechanics, and formatting requirements Weight: 10%	More than 6 errors present	5-6 errors present	3-4 errors present	0-2 errors present

Share:

Categories:

Business

Graded Homework

Assignment 2: Employment-At-Will Doctrine

Order a similar assignment, and have writers from our team of experts write it for you, guaranteeing you an A