Reference no: EM133198227

Discussion - Response Instructions

I appreciate you reaching out in regard to the situation with Holly Hopeful and Jack Jump. I will look into the events that led to Holly cutting her hand and the legal issues that may arise from the unexpected termination of Jack. It is always hard on company morale when situations such as this occur, so I think it is very important to get these situations resolved as soon as possible.

The incident that resulted in Holly cutting her hand on the blade is a very unfortunate accident. Anytime work tasks revolve around dangerous equipment there should be additional safeguards in place to help and prevent as many accidents as possible. According to Harvard Business Review, putting in 12 hours or more of work a day is linked to a 37 percent greater risk of being injured or becoming ill on the job (Drake). The more hours an employee works, the greater his or her risk is of being injured or becoming ill on the job. With that being said, according to OSHA there are no federal limits on the number of hours of overtime an employee may be allowed to work. However, they also state that there are inherent dangers associated with prolonged work shifts. Ethically Holly should have made the decision to not work the additional hours knowing the fact of how tired and worn down she was. That put her and the company at risk by making such careless decisions. A report by the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that prolonged overtime can cause "decreased alertness, increased fatigue, lower cognitive function, increased injuries, periods of extreme tension and anxiety, gastrointestinal pain or discomfort, and chest pain." In addition to these symptoms, OSHA guidelines state that other symptoms can include weariness, sleepiness, irritability, lack of motivation, increased susceptibility to illness, depression, headaches and dizziness (Walker). I feel that we should also look into our guidelines and make sure that we are doing everything to ensure our employee's safety. A few areas we might be able to improve would be allowing for additional breaks or lunches. Also, I think it is important that we monitor the number of overtime hours being worked.

In regard to Jack, there was no reason that he should not have completed the tasks of his job. So, I understand your frustrations, however there may be bigger issues going on with Jack and I think it would be a good idea to have another conversation with him. With Holly and Jack being the only two that can operate the machine I feel that it is definitely worth talking things over with him to see if there are underlying issues that can be resolved instead of resulting in termination. While Missouri follows the Employment-At-Will doctrine. This means that both the employer and employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time and for any reason, as long as there is no employment contract to the contrary, there is no discrimination under civil rights laws (based on race, color, age, national origin, religion, ancestry, sex, or physical/mental disability). (DOL) So legally I don't think there are any issues if you still want to proceed with Jack's termination, but I think by talking with him we might be able to resolve this issue without needing to terminate.

Please let me know your thoughts and how you would like to proceed.

Attachment:- Response Instructions.rar