978-1119032748 Chapter 4 Solution Manual

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Chapter 4: Employee Rights and Discipline

Reviewing Important Concepts

1. What should an organization know about employee records? (LO 1)

Job related information such as job descriptions, applications, performance appraisals,

disciplinary actions, work related forms and personal information such as contact and

2. What should be considered when developing a policy on employee use of social

media? (LO 2)

Effective social media policies include information on how the employer monitors

Internet use, warnings that there is no privacy when using the Internet at work (or if

applicable, elsewhere on any company owned electronic device such as a computer),

3. Discuss issues involved in using honesty tests to screen job applicants? (LO 3)

Honesty is basic to trust, communications, reliability. It is often thought that dishonesty

is an indication of other serious personality flaws that would make an employee

undesirable. Honesty tests assess honesty trustworthiness and dependability, but are not

4. What is employment-at-will? How does it affect employees? Employers? (LO 5)

Employment-at-will permits employers to discipline or discharge employees at their

discretion (at-will). For employees, it means that they do not have any guarantee of

5. Explain the potential advantages and disadvantages of having organizational

policies that deal with workplace romance. (LO 6)

Workplace romance can lead to morale, discipline and productivity problems in addition

to increasing the risk of sexual harassment claims or workplace violence if the romance

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Chapter 4: Employee Rights and Discipline

6. Describe the progressive discipline process as it would apply to an employee with a

minor violation of workplace rules as opposed to a serious violation. (LO 6)

Factors to consider when disciplining on pagexx. Options for applying these factor to

progressive discipline range from situations where extremely minor violations of rules

made by a long-time employee with a few if any prior violations or where extenuating

Evaluating Alternatives

7. The social media policy in your handbook states “Employees are not to use social

media during work hours and should make references the company online or on

social media sites .” Evaluate the effectiveness of the policy. In what ways can it help

or hurt the organization? Should it be revised? If so, explain why and propose a

revision of your own. (LO 2, 4, 6)

The policy is much too vague. Prohibiting employees from using social media at any time

during work hours seems to prevent using it at lunch or on breaks which seems overly

restrictive. That could hurt the company in recruiting young people.

A revised policy should include:

oCompany policy regarding use at work and away.

oEmployee privacy expectations when using company internet.

8. An employee is overheard telling a new worker, “Don’t rush back from lunch. You’ll

make us look bad. Everyone takes an extra fifteen to thirty minutes. Every once in a

while we get warned if the supervisor is in a bad mood, but he never does anything

about it. Evaluate the relationship between the behavior of the employees and the

behavior of the supervisor. What must be done to eliminate the problem of long

employee lunches? (LO 6)

The supervisor is part of the problem. Inconsistent enforcement of work rules such as the

lunch times leaves employees wondering what is acceptable behavior and results in

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Chapter 4: Employee Rights and Discipline

Research and Communication Skills

These activities require students to research a topic and report the findings to the instructor or the

class. They can be assigned to either individuals or groups and are designed to develop critical

thinking, research and presentation skills necessary for HR.

Activity Summaries

9. Students compare employee handbooks. Policies on discipline, social media and

10. The employee firings in the chapter opener are examined and evaluated. The actual

results are:

The dental assistant’s firing was upheld because the firing was based on emotion and not

Making a Difference: Service Learning Projects

Overview: Service Learning Projects provide students with opportunities to develop and

demonstrate HR skills and build a professional network that will assist in getting a job in HR.

The activities that relate to this chapter on discipline involve assisting a non-profit with social

media and volunteering to socialize pets at a local shelter. A sample assignment with

requirements and grading materials is available at the front of the Instructor’s Manual and as a

download from the text website.

Case Application 4 – A: Accountants With A License To Carry More Than Just

A Briefcase

This case allows students to study and discuss a variety of discipline issues. An accountant at an

excavation contractor and his boss share a mutual gun collection hobby, often bringing guns to

work. The accountant upsets an administrative assistant by brandishing a gun in her presence,

then is arrested for threatening his ex-wife with a loaded gun. After the arrest, the HR director’s

investigation discovers the previous presence of guns in the workplace and lack of disciplinary

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Chapter 4: Employee Rights and Discipline

action taken after the administrative assistant’s complaint. A gun policy is created and put in

place, but doesn’t seem to have much effect.

Questions:

1. Prepare a disciplinary report for Isaac Murillo that explains a description and date

of the problem(s), statement of policy, rule or practice that was violated and type of

warning or consequence being taken. Explain your choices. (LO 6)

Disciplinary actions against Murillo may include:

Violation of company workplace violence or bullying policies for failing to

discipline employee (Carstens) for threatening another employee.

Disciplinary Action Form:

Date of the warning:

Name of employee: Isaac Murillo

Name of manager administering the warning:

Description and date of the problem:

2. What should Bauer do about Isaac’s treatment of Gloria? (LO 6)

Isaac’s treatment of Gloria may have already qualified as retaliation for reporting the

incident with Carsterns, and his failure to discipline him for threatening Gloria with the

3. What factors need to be considered when deciding on a disciplinary action for

Harold Silva? (LO 6)

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Chapter 4: Employee Rights and Discipline

Seriousness of the Problem How severe is the problem? For example, dishonesty is

Duration of the Problem Have there been other discipline problems in the past, and

Frequency and Nature of the Problem Is the current problem part of an emerging or

continuing pattern of disciplinary infractions? We are concerned with not only the

Extenuating Factors Do extenuating circumstances relate to the problem? The

employee completed a project late because of the death of her grandfather is likely to

Degree of Socialization To what extent has management made an earlier effort to

educate the person causing the problem about the existing rules and procedures and

the consequences of violations? Discipline severity must reflect the degree of

History of the Organization’s Discipline Practices How have similar infractions been

dealt with in the past within the department? Within the entire organization? Has there

been consistency in the application of discipline procedures? Equitable treatment of

Management Backing If employees decide to take their case to a higher level in

management, will you have reasonable evidence to justify your decision? Should the

employee challenge your disciplinary action, you need data to back up the necessity

4. Research: What can you find out about companies that do and do not allow

employees to have guns or other weapons at work? What is their reasoning? What

are the laws in your state? What is your opinion on the issue? (LO 6)

Students will uncover a variety of views from a variety of sources. Encourage them to

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Chapter 4: Employee Rights and Discipline

Case Application 4 – B: Casino Has No Sense of Humor

This case concerns a casino employee placing a “Dilbert” cartoon on the company bulletin

board, which management found offensive. The employee was fired for misconduct and denied

unemployment benefits. The employee appealed to an administrative judge, claiming an error in

judgment, rather than intentionally breaking any rules or being disrespectful.

1. If the casino had a policy of using progressive discipline and the hot-stove

approach, evaluate the actions of the Human Resource Director in disciplining

Steward. (LO 4, 6)

Progressive discipline was not followed since there was no warning or suspension prior

to Seward being fired. The action doesn’t seem to be serious enough to skip the first steps

and go directly to dismissal. Since the casino was in the process of closing anyway,

providing a written warning would most likely have changed the behavior of the

2. Does the surveillance camera present any ethical or legal problems? Why or

why not? (LO 4)

Surveillance cameras are routinely used in the course of business by casinos, and both

employees and customers are typically aware of them. Since the camera is watching a

3. The actions of the judge seem to ignore the doctrine of employment-at-will. Do the

exceptions to the doctrine seem to explain the actions of the judge? (LO 5)

Steward didn’t get his job back, so employment-at-will isn’t really violated. If he were

to get the job back, these elements may or may not apply:

Contractual relationship: If a contract existed, that would explain it.

Implied employment contract: If promises of job security or statements in an

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Chapter 4: Employee Rights and Discipline

4. Could Steward have successfully claimed that the cartoon was protected concerted

speech? Who or why not? (LO 2, 6)

The comic was directed at other employees, so that seems to support the claim, but no

5. Research: Would the situation have been any different if Steward had posted the

comic on social media? Search online for cases where employees posted cartoons or

articles on social media and were disciplined by employers. Explain the outcome of

those situations. (LO 2, 6)

Online Case Application 4 – C: TEAM FUN

Questions:

1. Inform Kenny and Norton about the pros and cons of a polygraph test. Is Tony’s suggestion

legal? (LO 3)

2. What are the legal implications of the employee monitoring and drug testing measures

suggested? What policies should be instituted? (LO 3, 4)

3. Explain general principles of effective discipline policies to Kenny and Norton. (LO 6, 7)

4. How should Tony handle Joe’s suggestion to fire Roberta? What needs to be considered? (LO

5, 6, 7)

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