Business Law Chapter 26 MindTap Apply It

Abbie Haneef works as a secretary at BuildingCo, a large construction company that specializes in government contracts. Abbie is in charge of reviewing the invoices that BuildingCo sends to the state of Vermont regarding the construction of a new facility for the state's department of transportation. Abbie discovers that BuildingCo managers have been illegally overcharging the costs of time and materials in their invoices to state officials. Abbie tells her co-worker Zuki Mori about the overcharges during a lunch break and suggests that they should be fixed. Two weeks later, Abbie is abruptly fired by her immediate supervisor. Assuming that her termination was because of her disclosures to Zuki, did BuildingCo legally terminate Abbie?

(Case Problem)

BuildingCo ___ legally fire Abbie in this case.

-can

Abbie ___ speak about illegal activities by her employer. Abbie ___ report her findings of illegal overbilling to government authorities, upper-level managers, or the media. Abbie ___ a whistleblower under the law because she ___.

-did -did not -is not -did not report activity to the necessary individuals or entities

Employment at will ___ give employers broad discretion to hire and fire their employees and ___ employers to give an employee sufficient notice before the employee is discharged. The most common exception to the employment-at-will doctrine is the exception based upon ___. The public policy exception ___ apply to an employee discharged for whistleblowing.

-does -does not require -public policy -may

The fact that Abbie is an employee at will ___ impact the legality of the decision. Abbie can seek redress based on grounds of ___. BuildingCo executives should have ___ when they learned of the overbilling from Abbie.

-does not -the public policy exception to employment at will and he Whistleblower Protection Act -reported it to the state and punish the managers who committed wrongdoing

What If the Facts Were Different? Assume now that Abbie reported her findings to the local television news. Abbie ___ met the legal requirement of a whistleblower because ___.

-has -both reported illegal and reported activity to the necessary individuals or entities

You are an accounting student at a university and also a talented guitar player. During summer vacation, you are hired full-time to do bookkeeping for a computer store. You work during normal business hours at the computer store. Your work there is supervised by the office manager, and you are paid an hourly wage. On Saturday nights, you play guitar at a pub. You bring your own instrument and you decide what music to play. You are paid a set price for this gig. A question arises at both the store and the pub as to whether you are an employee or an independent contractor. This question is important because employers have certain obligations to employees that do not apply to independent contractors. For example, employers are liable for the wrongful acts of employees but generally not for the acts of independent contractors. Likewise, employers must withhold payroll taxes for employees but not for independent contractors. Are you an employee or an independent contractor at the store and at the pub?

You are an employee of the computer store and an independent contractor of the pub.

(BH) Onida is an employee at Kale's Manufacturing Company. The company makes bicycle tires, and Onida's job is to inspect the inner tubes before they are inserted into the tires. She recently noticed that the inner tubes are thinner than the safety specifications require. Onida tells her supervisor, Tom, about the problem, and is instructed to ignore it because these thinner tubes save the company money. Onida cannot ignore this problem in good conscience, so she tells Tom that if he is not going to report the problem, she will. Tom then fires Onida. Kale's Manufacturing Company is in an employment-at-will state. If Onida brings a lawsuit for wrongful termination, she will likely:

be successful because she was fired for an unlawful reason

(BH) Gerald has been a sales representative for Goldsmith's Department Store for the past five years. When Gerald was hired, the general manager told Gerald that he would have a job there as long as he made $3,000 in sales each month. Every month, Gerald has exceeded that level in sales, so he is surprised when his supervisor calls him into the office and fires him. Gerald tells the supervisor about the promise from the general manager not to fire him as long as his sales were $3,000 each month. The supervisor responds by telling Gerald that the law in this state is employment at will, so he can fire him at any time for any reason. If Gerald sues Goldsmith's for wrongful termination, he will likely:

be successful because the general manager orally promised him that he would remain in his job as long as his sales stayed at a specific level, and he has maintained that level

(BH) Benjamin works for The Cabinet Maker, a large manufacturing plant that makes ready-to-hang cabinets for the kitchen and bath. Benjamin is running a table saw that cuts wood into strips to make a cabinet. As Benjamin loads wood onto the conveyer belt, he slips on the concrete floor and falls into the table saw. Benjamin's face and arms are severely injured by the table saw, and he is rushed to the hospital. Benjamin's injuries are so severe that he is admitted to the hospital for four days. The Cabinet Maker must file a report of Benjamin's work-related injury with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) within:

twenty-four hours

(BH) Rosemary's son Dave is a United States Marine. Dave was recently injured in a covert operation in the Middle East and now needs round-the-clock care. Rosemary works at the Silver Spoon Café, which has 63 employees. Rosemary advises her supervisor that she needs to take time off to care for Dave. Rosemary quickly uses up all her accrued leave time, so she applies for time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Under the FMLA, Rosemary may take unpaid time off to care for her injured son for up to:

twenty-six weeks

(BH) Mateo is sixteen years old and just got his first job bagging groceries at Harry's Market, a local grocery store. During the school year, Mateo works limited hours after school and on the weekends. Now that school is out, Harry's Market increases Mateo's hours to six days a week and eight hours a day. Mateo's mother Isabel is concerned about Mateo working such long hours. She knows there is a federal law, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), that protects children from working long hours and too many days per week. When Isabel raises the issue with Mateo's supervisor, Mateo's supervisor explains to Isabel that:

under the FLSA, children who are sixteen or seventeen years old may work unlimited hours as long as they work in nonhazardous jobs