Legal Risk

Legal Encounter-1
NewCorp. hired Pat as manager of real property in Vermont, where he was responsible for maintaining leased office space. Pat relocated from another city 300 miles away, moved his family, and sold and bought a home in Vermont and his wife quit her job to seek employment in Vermont. After Pat worked for three months with NewCorp. his supervisor explained that things were not working out and that Pat would be discharged with 30 days of severance pay. Pat was surprised because his employer gave no previous indication of any problem. I believe Pats termination was not justifiable because Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance/Corrective Action Plan was never given to Pat for his unsatisfactory performance and Pat was never questioned about his performance in the three months with NewCorp. The employer took great interest in brining Pat in from far away, paid for relocation cost and terminating the employee within such a short period time is not reasonable. Pat acknowledge that he signed a document to show his understanding that the company observed employment at will with respect to discharge, but he believed that provision limited NewCorp’s freedom to discharge him at will. In respect to the rules of NewCorp corrective action plan, Pat was never given any verbal or written notice for his performance and therefore I believe that Pat’s termination is not fully justifiable. Prior to giving Pat 30 days notice of his termination, NewCorp must give Pat Corrective Action plan to improve his performance or give more justifiable reason for his termination. According to Pat, NewCorp’s senior managements were noticeably unfriendly after Pat had been vocal at a local school board meeting and therefore, Pat can file a wrongful termination suit. Pat can file a suit for involved in an intentional discrimination. “A court can award punitive damages against an employer in a case involving an employer’s malice or reckless indifference to federally protected rights...