Belles Feuilles North America is the U.S. and Canada branch of Belles Feuilles Construction Group, an international construction company with branches throughout the world. The Roads Group of BFNA has built highways and bridges throughout North America.
Joe Salazar and Carol Pryblowski have worked as civil engineers at BFNA since they graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in 1993. Their careers have paralleled each other, as the first one and then the other were hired into the Design Unit. Both have served as project engineers in Construction Units overseeing highway construction on projects of similar size and complexity. Each engineer has received good to excellent evaluations from a succession of supervisors. As friendly competitors, they have attended similar training sessions and enjoy an occasional social lunch together.
When the opportunity to apply for a promotion to supervisor of an engineering unit came up, they both applied. Joe was hired. Carol was bewildered because she truly believed she was better qualified for the position. A friend encouraged her to see a work discrimination lawyer because Carol's description of the process led the friend to believe that illegal discrimination occurred.
1. Based on the information in the case, evaluate whether Carol will be able to provide the lawyer with all the information necessary to prove illegal discrimination.
2. You are the HR Director at BFNA. Discuss the main characteristics of the performance management system that you have implemented to withstand legal challenges such as Carol's.
3. Why is it important for a company to have a defensible and fair promotional.