Unfair Dismissal, Dismissal without Notice - Case Study Example

Law in Business Introduction All the employers are bound by the regulations as stipulated in the s employment act. This employment act is meant to ensure that both the rights of the employer and the employee are not interfered with. The employment act therefore provides the regulations on how the employer and the employee are supposed to relate with one another. Without the employment act, the rights of the employees would be interfered with significantly especially by the organizations which would want to make profit from the suffering of the employees. In the case study examined, Allan’s rights were significantly violated. This case study looks at this rights and what the law says about it. Discrimination Discrimination against employees is not legal according to the labor laws. The employees should be treated equal and no one should be discriminated from the others. In this case scenario, the manager of the organization was discriminatory in handling of the Allan’s case. Although Allan reported to him, he however dismissed him and thus making him not to get another place where his problems can be addressed. Since the responsibility of his manager is to ensure that all the employees are working in a condition which is conducive to them, by not acting against Allan’s case can be interpreted as discrimination against him. From the case, Allan is seen reporting to his superior as he seeks some help in from him because the other employees are bullying him. However, the manager uses some unkind language to him and fails to act on this. Unfair Dismissal Convention no. 158 states clearly that no employee should be fired without a very good reason. Allan was one morning fired by his manager without him giving him sufficient reasons as to why he is being fired. The manager just walked into his office and told him that his services are not needed. According to international labor laws, employees are not supposed to be fired from the organization unless the management has very good reason as to why it is firing that employee. The manager should investigate any case of misconduct before firing an employee and ensure that it is a very good case (Hugh, 2005, pp. 73). Firing of an employee should not be based on information which is hearsay. The organization should try to collect information and then avail it to the employee so that the employee can understand why such a step is being taken. Usually, the employee will need a very good reason as to why he or she should be fired before the management takes that step. In case of misconduct of an employee, the organization should first investigate the case thoroughly before handing the employee a dismissal later. This will ensure that there is fairness in the dismissal of that employee and that the dismissal will not be interpreted as being discriminatory to that employee (Machina, 2008, pp. 89). There are various ways in which the organization can investigate an incident of misconduct. First, the company can form a tribunal if the case involves very gross misconduct. The tribunal will collect information and build a case against him. In this case, the people who are aggrieved will be invited as witnesses against that particular employee. The tribunal will then listen to all the witnesses who are against the employee. That is, the employee will be given time to defend himself. He may also invite his own witnesses so that he can prove that he is innocent. After the tribunal listens to all sides, it can make recommendations to the management to either dismiss the employee or give a warning to the employee or ignore the complaints against the employee (Gillian, 2005, pp. 104). The other way in which the organization can investigate the misconduct of an employee is by the use of the state investigations machinery. The management can involve the police in carrying out investigations which appear to be of national importance. In that case, the organization will allow the police to carry out their investigations and make conclusions. They will then forward the files to the company’s lawyer who will pursue the case in the courts of law. The court will make a decision which the organization will abide by. Therefore, the police and the states investigations department will just help the organization in investigating the incident and then the company lawyer will pursue the case. The organization can also make a committee of managers who will look at the case and make recommendations. In this case, the managers will listen to all the arguments about the case. They will invite witnesses who will testify in the case and after that, they will form their opinion. They will base their judgment on the laws and regulations which have been formulated by the company for dealing with employee misconduct. When the case touches on issues outside the companies laws, the managers will need to use the national laws in coming up with their judgment. However, it is important to note that the rules of natural justice should be allowed to all the employees and that the committee should make judgment following this. Dismissal without notice In this case, Allan is just dismissed from the job in the morning without being given a notice. Usually, the organization formulates the rules governing the notice to be given to an employee. Some of the organizations have three months’ notice. This means that if the employee is dismissed without being given the notice, the organization will pay the employee the months her or she was supposed to work. Therefore, the employee will either be told to work for the next three months as he or she looks for another job or the company will pay the employee a three month salary so that it will be possible for the employee to seek an alternative employment for those three months without running out of money to run his or her family (Jensen, 1998, pp. 453). The number of the days which are set by the company should be equal to or more than the ones which have been set by the national guidelines. If the company days are less than the ones which the law states, it is the laws guidelines which will be used. However, if the company rules and policy state that the employee is supposed to be dismissed after being given a notice of one hundred and twenty days, then the organization will follow the policy which is higher. In this case, the company will have to give the employee a notice of at least four months without relieving him off his or her duties (Norman, 2008, pp. 138). No warning given When there is some misconduct in the employee, the employer should first call the employee and warn him or her against what he or she is doing. This will be done so that the employee can understand that what he or she is doing can potentially hand him or her dismissal. The warning can also act as a disciplinary measure as the person will tend to control his or her conduct so that he or she will not be dismissed. It is after the employee has been warned that he is likely to be sacked that the management can take measures against the employee. In this case, the employee was not warned that there are issues arising from his conduct. it is not stated that the manager sent Allan a warning letter warning him that if he misbehaves or causes an accident again, he will be dismissed. For this reason, it was not justified in accordance with law for Allan to be dismissed without a prior warning that he will be dismissed. The management should have taken the initiative of first telling the employee that he has been warned against his actions and that if he continues to behave like that, he will be dismissed from the organization. This would have served as a measure of making Allan conduct himself in the manner which is accepted by the organizational and ensure that he does not get dismissed (Thaler. 2001, pp. 78). Health and Safety One of the responsibilities of the organization is to ensure that the working environment of the employees does not risk their health and safety as they work here. This health covers physical and emotional or mental health. The management should ensure that the employees are not exposed to conditions which will affect their health adversely while at work. According to the health and safety regulations, the management must provide a conducive environment which will promote physical and mental health of all the employees regardless of their position in the organization. The management must take all precautions and eliminates all the risks in the premises of the organization which appear to risk the health of the employees. If an employee suffers from an illness which is as a result of poor working conditions in the organization, he or she should be compensated by the organization and should not be dismissed for such an illness from the employment by the organization (Honeyball, 2008, pp. 89). In Allan’s case, there was constant bullying by his work mates. They were always unkind to him making him not feel comfortable when at the job. Although the management decided to help him get another office, there were still problems with the rest of the employees. These employees were always giving Allan headache and making him not concentrate in his job. In addition, the bullying by the rest of the work mates is example of a risk for a mental illness. This bullying might lead to depression which may affect the functioning of him. Therefore, the organization should have done all what it can to ensure that Allan is not bullied by the rest of the work mates. Bullying resulted in a situation where Allan would not be able to concentrate effectively on his duties fully. In addition, he would get depression and lead to mental illness. Allan is seen reporting to his superior who fails to act. It is an offense according to the labor laws to fail to act on an issue which has been raised by the employee concerning his health. Allan raised the issue of being bullied by other workers to the manager but the manager just told him off. This can be regarded as negligence of the manager and the company is liable to pay the damages which have occurred as a result of this. Mental illnesses can result from such acts such as depression or even mania. This is because they will act as triggers to the disease and the patient presents with the symptoms. In this case, the organization should compensate Allan for making him work under such circumstances and that they should not sack him on that basis since he reported and no action was taken against those who were bullying him. Mistreatment at the Work Place The managers of the organization must always respect the human rights of all the employees present in the organization. In all the interactions of the organizations managers and the employees, they should ensure that they adhere to the human rights of the employees. In this case, the manager seems to disrespect the rights of Allan. When Allan reported to the manager that the employees were abusing him, instead of trying his best to preserve the rights of Allan, the manager just dismissed him and told him that he should allow the employee to call him a few bad names. This means that the manager was supporting the actions of employees of abusing Allan (Arn, 2005, pp. 89). One responsibility of the management is to ensure that the other employees or members of the organization do not interfere with the basic rights of any of the employee. It is the manager who should make sure that the employees respect one another and he should always take disciplinary action against any of the employees who fail to respect the other people’s human rights. In the case of Allan, the manager was supposed to take the complaints Allan seriously when he reported that the rest of the employees were bullying him. He should have taken some disciplinary measures against these employees so that they will not continue making Allan suffer in the place of work. If the manager had taken some action against those employees who were bullying Allan, there would not be a serious problem facing Allan. However, because the manager failed to take action, the rest of the employees failed to respect the human rights of Allan thus leading to abuse of his rights at the work place. The manager also used an abusive language as he was dismissing the employee. He told him to go and get his gay little ass out there. This is a very bad language to be used on the employees and is evidence that the management is not respecting t6he rights of Allan. Allan might be mentally ill because of singing and having some funny behavior. However, whether he is ill or not, the organization must respect all his rights and ensure that there are no instances where the employee is being deprived his rights. Allan can therefore sue the organization and the manager for insulting him at the place of work (Netter, 1988, pp. 63). Compensation for illness When an employee gets ill in the course of carrying out his duties, he or she should be taken care of by the organization. The organization should have an insurance policy to cover its employees. If the illness is as a result of the issues within the organization, then it is the responsibility of the organization to treat the patient and compensate him or her for that. The employee should not be dismissed on the basis that he is sick. However, the organization should take full responsibility over all the illness in the patient. Allan was previously well before the incident happened at the floor of the organization. The employees started laughing at him which made him get some depression as a result of that. The other employees were humiliating him. This humiliation might have acted as a trigger for the mental illness in the patient and as a result, the patient got a mental illness. Therefore, the illness which Allan is suffering from might be as a result of the humiliation he is getting from the job. The organization should therefore not just fire him because of that. The disease resulted from the conditions in the work place and thus the organization has no right of dismissing him. In this case, Allan should be taken to hospital and his bills cleared by the organization. He should also be compensated for the damages as a result of the illness which resulted from poor working conditions in the organization. To make the matters worse, Allan had previously reported to the management and nothing was done. The management should have taken his complaints seriously and resolved them before reaching to the extent of triggering a mental illness (Stephen & Budd, 2009, pp. 78). Conclusion The rights of employees are very paramount and all the organizations must respect the employees’ rights. The employees should not be dismissed without a proper justification for that. This means that the organization must produce evidence of the allegations and the dismissal of the employee based on the policy of employment according to the organization. There should also be no discrimination against some employees. The organization must make sure that all the employees are treated equally. In dismissing an employee, the organization must give the employee a notice of discontinuation of his services. This notice can be ninety days or more. Therefore, before the organization decides to dismiss an employee, it should first give him or her notice. However, if the organization is justified to dismiss the employee immediately, it should pay the employee a three months’ salary. The organization should provide a conducive environment for the employee which will ensure that the employee does not suffer from any illness as a result of the poor working conditions in the organization. In a case where an employee suffers as a result of the poor working conditions, he or she should be compensated for that. Bibliographies Arn Morell, 2005, Labor and Employment: Workplace Warzone. Georgetown: Georgetown University press. Jensen, C. 1998, Workplace problems: Their Causes and Consequences. United States: July and Son Pub. Gillian Morris, 2005, Labor Law, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing. Honeyball, S. 2008, Textbook on Employment Law, United States: Oxford University Press Hugh Collins, 2005, Labor Law, Cases, Texts and Materials; United Kingdom: Hart Publishing Machina, I. 2008, Problems in Work Place New York: law Publishers. Netter, H. 1988, the Market and Employment; London: Free Press Norman Selwyn, 2008, Selwyn's Law of Employment. United States: Oxford University Press Stephen F. & Budd, J. W. 2009, Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: Bringing Workplace Law and Public Policy into Focus; United States: Stanford University Press Thaler H. 2001, Employment and Laws, United Stated: Oxford University Press Read More