Employees Rights and Discipline: Chapter 13

The __________ restricts employers from intercepting wire, oral, or electronic communications.

. Electronic Communications Privacy Act

The minimum advance notice of plant closings or layoffs affecting 50 or more full-time employees required by the Workers' Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act of 1989 is

60 days

Illegal substances remain in urine for various periods of time: cocaine for approximately __________, marijuana for __________ or longer.

96 hours; four weeks

Which of the following complaint procedures is a unionized employee likely to use?

A grievance procedure

Seyall Industries uses a progressive discipline program when disciplinary action is required. Terri is going through this process and has received counseling. If improvement is not made, what is the expected next step in a typical procedure?

A written warning

Blake believes that he was fired from his job without just cause. A "no" answer to any of the following questions EXCEPT which one would indicate that just cause was not established?

Are there extenuating circumstances?

Carmen, a new supervisor, wants to correctly document the poor performance of an employee. Which of the following actions would she NOT have to perform?

Conducting a current performance appraisal of the employee

In __________, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employees can file discrimination suits with the EEOC even when the employer has a mandatory arbitration agreement that is signed by the employee.

EEOC v. Waffle House Inc.

Under the employment-at-will doctrine, who can terminate an employment relationship?

Employees or employers

KyoTek has informed its employees of the company policy that they may not use their business phones to make personal calls. What is true of this situation?

Employees' communication may be monitored, even personal calls.

Which of the following is NOT an exception to the employment-at-will doctrine?

Established protection

__________ can be defined as a set of acceptable conduct and moral judgments

Ethics

Elle is conducting a disciplinary investigation of an employee. Which of the following is NOT one of the questions she might ask when determining if the employee was aware that the action was wrong?

Has anyone talked to the employee to hear his or her side of the situation?

. Which exception to the employment-at-will doctrine occurs when a lack of good faith and fair dealing by the employer has been suggested?

Implied covenant

While he was employed at KyoTek, Jakob came up with an idea for an app that has the potential to make a lot of money. KyoTek has not pursued the idea yet, but the company does have it listed in its potential project list. Jakob left his job at KyoTek, and he wants to develop that app on his own. He is prohibited from doing this because of what provision?

Intellectual property agreement

CJ is conducting a disciplinary investigation of an employee. Which of the following is NOT one of the questions he might ask when determining if the rule has been uniformly enforced?

Is there direct or only indirect evidence of guilt?

Which of the following questions should one consider when investigating an employee offense?

Is there evidence that the offense hurt the organization?

Which of the following actions is MOST likely to create a wrongful discharge claim?

Making exceptions to the rules in unique circumstances

Body art is increasingly popular among

Millennials and Generation Xers.

Rianna left her job as a senior project developer at Seyall Industries. She was offered a position at RevSystems, developing similar products in the same market. Rianna is unable to accept RevSystems' offer for one year because of what provision?

Noncompete agreement

After he left his job at KyoTek, Jakob told his friends about the new projects KyoTek is working on. Because this is considered proprietary information, what provision did Jakob violate?

Nondisclosure of information agreement

Kim was an office supplies sales rep with Clip'n'Save. She recently changed employers and now works for OfficeJoe. The prices at OfficeJoe are much better, and she could save her former customers a lot of money on the exact same products. What provision prevents her from contacting her old customers for six months?

Nonpiracy agreement

Todd has exhibited behavior on the job that needs to be corrected. As a first step towards correcting that behavior, his supervisor held a conference with Todd to find a solution to the problem. What approach to disciplinary action is most likely being used?

Positive discipline

Under the __________, federal agencies must safeguard the personal information of their employees. a. Electronic Communications Privacy Act

Privacy Act

Which of the following actions does NOT reduce retaliation charges?

Publicizing employee complaints to place other employees on notice

In a typical progressive discipline program, what step immediately precedes the termination of an employee?

Suspension

Seyall Industries uses a progressive discipline program when disciplinary action is required. Terri is going through this process and has received a written warning. If improvement is not made, what is the expected next step in a typical procedure?

Suspension without pay

__________ places restrictions on employers in their ability to listen to telephone calls made by employees.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act

Which of the following acts financially rewards whistle-blowers who expose fraud related to governmental programs and wrongdoing related to consumer financial products or services?

The False Claims Act

Which management group has the primary responsibility of developing disciplinary policies and procedures?

The Human Resources department

Which of the following is the dominant principle governing private-sector employment relationships?

The employment-at-will doctrine

Which of the following employee groups does the last step of a conventional step-review appeal procedure involve?

The top management

Which of the following groups CANNOT grant rights to employees?

Unions

Discharge for refusing to violate a professional code of conduct falls under which exception to employment-at-will doctrine?

Violation of public policy

. Pat is conducting a disciplinary investigation of an employee. When looking into how many years of service the employee has with the organization and how many years the employee has held the present job, what question is Pat trying to answer?

What is the employee's past work record?

In __________, the Court stated a general rule that if an employer deliberately makes an employee's working conditions so intolerable that the employee is forced into involuntary resignation, then the employer has encompassed a constructive discharge and is liable for any illegal conduct involved therein

Young v. Southwestern Savings and Loan Association

The ombudsman is an advocate for

a fair process

The states that grant employees the privilege to see their personnel files generally do not provide the right to

alter the details of one's personnel file.

A complaint committee in a peer-review system consists of

an equal number of employee and management representatives

An implied employment contract

can result from statements spoken to an employee by an employer.

In a complaint committee in a peer-review system, employee representatives are

elected by coworkers

The primary concern to the employer regarding workplace romance is

employer liability.

If managers want to maintain an effective open-door policy, they must

encourage employees to voice their complaints and listen honestly to those concerns.

Employers should apply all of the following guidelines in a search policy EXCEPT

engaging in searches publicly, so that employees understand that searches do take place

An employer-paid decision-making leave

gives employees time to consider whether they wish to remain with the organization

An open-door policy

identifies various levels of management above an employee's immediate supervisor that an aggrieved employee may contact.

Termination meetings should be held

in a neutral location, such as a conference room.

An advantage of impairment testing is that

it identifies employees who are impaired for reasons other than drug use.

Alternative dispute resolution procedures, such as arbitration

may be required of an employee by an employer in lieu of a lawsuit.

Federal and state courts generally view the privacy rights of employees as

minimal

One of the employees at Seyall Industries was continually harassing coworkers. Those coworkers feel that Seyall Industries should have learned more about that individual's background before the employee was hired. They have brought a(n) __________ lawsuit against the company

negligent hiring

Matthew has been designated by KyoTek to help mediate disputes. He listens to employees' complaints and then tries to seek solutions through negotiation and mediation. Matthew is known as a(n)

ombudsman.

. Electronic Communications Privacy Act

positive discipline programs.

Before firing an employee, employers should apply the

principles of just cause.

Discipline programs designed to motivate an employee to correct his or her misconduct voluntarily are known as

progressive discipline programs.

KyoTek expects that its employees will use their talents, skills, and abilities to perform their duties. In turn, the employees expect KyoTek to provide fair wages, steady work, training as needed, and promotional opportunities. This relationship is referred to as

psychological contract.

The employee complaint process that is most similar to a grievance procedure under a union contract is the

step-review system

Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees under all of the following EXCEPT

the Workers' Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act.

The cornerstone and major benefit of mediation is that

the parties involved maintain control over the settlement outcome

Employers defend their intrusion into employee privacy by noting

their legitimate business interest.

Carla feels that she was disciplined without due process. As understood by most HR managers, that means that Carla was denied her right

to be heard.

In NLRB v Weingarten, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that

unionized employees have certain rights to representation when subjected to an investigatory interview.

. In the second step of a positive discipline system to correct undesirable employee conduct, managers issue a __________ to an employee to improve his or her unacceptable performance

written reminder