Reference no: EM133500918

CASE STUDY - Union Discipline

Introduction:

The following case study describes a disciplinary incident at a hotel that involves various labor and employment law issues that managers may confront in a unionized workforce setting.

Instructions:

Please analyze the presented fact pattern and address the disciplinary matter by answering all of the questions that follow. Students should specifically incorporate the concept of just cause.

Fact Pattern:

The grievant is a housekeeper in a luxury hotel. She has an unblemished 8-year record. She was in the process of cleaning a guest room when the couple staying in the room entered. The grievant heard the husband ask his wife to go to the bathroom and get him some Bayer aspirin because he had a headache. After getting the aspirin, the couple left the room, telling the grievant they would leave her alone to finish cleaning the room.

Several minutes later, Trent, who is in charge of stocking the refrigerators in guest rooms, entered. He told the grievant that he had a very bad headache and did not think that he'd be able to finish his workday. She told him that the guest staying in the room had a headache also and had just gotten some Bayer aspirin from the bathroom.

Trent asked if he could have some of the aspirin, and the grievant went into the bathroom and found a Bayer bottle in the medicine cabinet. She remarked that the pills didn't look like aspirin, but then admitted she didn't know what Bayer aspirin looked like. Trent took two of the pills, stocked the refrigerator, and left the room.

Shortly thereafter, Trent became very ill and was taken to the hotel clinic. Trent told the clinic doctor that he had taken some aspirin that the grievant had gotten for him. The doctor sent for the grievant and asked her to get the aspirin bottle so they could check its contents. The grievant went to the guest room and knocked on the door. She told the wife what had happened, and the wife told the grievant that the medicine in the Bayer bottle was not in fact aspirin, but her husband's heart medication. She gave the grievant the bottle of pills and she showed them to the doctor. The doctor explained that Trent would be agitated and flushed for a while, but would not be harmed by the pills. The grievant returned the pills to the couple and apologized for her actions.

Case Study Questions:

How would you argue on behalf of the Union?

How would you argue on behalf of the Hotel?

Could you uphold the discharge based on Just Cause?