Purpose

You will be assigned a group in at the beginning of the course. Each student of the group will receive the same grade. Your group will provide a response to the following three (3) cases. You are encouraged to use the group project discussion forum to coordinate and discuss your assignment. You may also choose to use other tools like Skype or Google Hangouts to meet and discuss the questions.

Case

Imagine that you are working in the HR department of your company. You come across the following scenarios for which your input has been sought. Discuss each scenario, and propose an action plan for management.

1. Aimee is the mother of a newborn. She is very dedicated to her work, but she used to stay for longer hours at work before she had her baby. Now she tries to schedule her work so that she leaves around 5:00 p.m Her immediate manager feels that Aimee is no longer dedicated or committed to her work and is considering passing her over for a promotion. Is this decision fair? Why or Why not?

2. Jack is a married male, while John is single. Your company has an assignment in a branch in Mexico that would last a couple of years. Management feels that John would be better for this assignment because he is single and is free to move. Is this decision fair?

3. A manager receives a request from an employee to take off a Wednesday for religious reasons. The manager did not know that this employee was particularly religious and does not believe that the leave is for religious reasons. The manager believes that the employee is going to use this day as a personal day off.

Should the manager investigate the situation?

4. A sales employee has painful migraines intermittently during the work day. She would like to take short naps during the day as apreventative measure, and she also needs a place where she can nap when a migraine occurs. Her immediate manager feels that this accommodation is unfair to the rest of the employees.

5. A department is looking for an entry-level cashier. One of the job applicants is a cashier with 30 years of experience as a cashier. The department manager feels that this candidate is overqualified for the job and is likely to be bored and leave the job in a short time. Instead, they want to pursue a candidate with 6 months of work experience who seems like a better fit for the position.