Reference no: EM132199337

Case Court Reporting is a private court reporting company, which provides certified court reporters to law firms to take testimony in depositions and arbitration hearings, as well as providing "closed captioning" to local television stations for their community-based programming. Case Court Reporting (CCR) has 37 employees. One of CCR's court reporters is Hanna Holy, a devout Christian who will not use everyday swear words because of her religious belief, they take God's name in vain. Hanna is a fast and accurate court reporter, but if a witness or lawyer uses swear words in any deposition or hearing she is reporting, she omits the offensive words. For example, when a witness said, "Hell, no, I don't give a d--- what he does," Hanna typed, "Heck no, I don't give a darn what he does." When the law firm that ordered the transcript objected, Hanna's "correction" was "H---, no, I don't give a d---- what he does." The law firm complained again, and the transcript had to be revised again (to state the original testimony) by another court reporter in the office who did not have Hanna's sensibilities. The office manager at CCR is Dale Dabbler, who recently proclaimed her conversion to Wicca-ism. In connection with her worship of several deities associated with her new beliefs, she believes she should be entitled to burn a candle in her office every afternoon, and carry a picture of one of the deities on her at all times, on a necklace that dangles from her neck. CCR does not believe it should be required to accommodate either Hanna or Dale's religious practices on the job. Due to a decline in the court reporting industry, CCR believes it must lay off about 10 of its court reporters. If layoffs are based on seniority, most of the youngest court reporters will be laid off. If the layoffs are based on skill level, which in court reporting is measured by the speed and accuracy at which someone can transcribe, most of the layoffs will be among CCR's oldest employees, those aged 45 or older. One possible solution CCR is considering is offering an "early retirement package" to all employees aged 50 or older, under which they would receive a generous cash incentive to take retirement. For those not sufficiently induced, the company would require that they be transferred to in-office transcription of other court reporter's notes, rather than continuing to be sent out to law firms for depositions and arbitration hearings. Mary Sunshine, age 59, was dismissed last year as a court reporter for CCR, at a time when she was earning the highest pay and benefits of any reporter in the company. She was not given a reason for her dismissal, and was replaced by Ginny Fox, age 41, who was paid substantially less. After Mary made a complaint with the EEOC over her dismissal, CCR discovered that during her tenure as an employee, Mary had stolen office supplies valued at several hundred dollars. As the HR director at CCR, what problems can you identify?