What Should Jim Do? Please refer to "Case Study A - Discrimina V. Defense Plants" in Course Materials . Study and answer Problem 1 at the end of the case. It is reprinted for you here: Problem 1. Employment Contracts and Wrongful Discharge Mr. Discrimina, through Eunice, requests that his employee Jim Arbor sign what he calls a confidentiality agreement. He offers to "consider profit sharing and salary increases" if Jim signs, but does not put profit sharing and wage increases in writing. Jim asks to read the paper before he signs and finds that it also contains a non-competition agreement not allowing Jim to do any machining, mechanical engineering or any work on industrial parts for a period of five years after leaving the company, anywhere in the world. Jim feels that he is being taken advantage of, but does not know what to do. He has been threatened with discharge if he doesn't sign. Questions Analyze Jim Arbor's situation. Does he have an employment contract now? What is it? Should he ask for the salary increase to be in writing? Why or why not? Is it fair for Eunice to take advantage of the fact that Jim does not know why his invention and services have suddenly become more valuable? Explain. Is it fair for her to be the one to approach him, given their personal relationship? Explain. Below is the case study to answer the above to questions This is Case Study A Course Materials The following case study features problems and issues related to employment law. The case is fictional yet realistic to illustrate points in the lecture and text and to provide problems within legal cases to solve. This case and Case Study B will be used for a number of weeks. Important Note: Your weekly class assignments will notify you when to work on this case. A small corporation, Discrimina, Inc. is a small parts machining shop owned by Hank Discrimina and his daughter, Eunice Discrimina. Discrimina, Inc. makes high quality agricultural parts for some of the agricultural implement manufacturers. Mr. Discrimina is thinking of retiring and has considered selling out for about $1.2 million.  His machine shop has only 15 employees and is appraised at only $600,000.00 including the steel building, grounds, machines, parts, and going business value. Defense Plants, Inc. has just offered to acquire the entire company for $1 million, and Hank Discrimina is allowing them to check out his company to see why they want to pay so much for a small machine shop.  The agreement at this point gives both parties full rights to back out and allows Defense Plants executives to check out the place. Defense Plants, Inc. has large government contracts and also does work for private individuals. They sell ammunition for military and sporting uses. Because of their large contracts with the government, Defense Plants, Inc. has a group of people whose sole job is to comply with government regulations. Defense Plants also has an excellent human resources department that has d.

1. What Should Jim Do?
Please refer to "Case Study A - Discrimina V. Defense Plants"
in
Course Materials
.
Study and answer Problem 1 at the end of the case. It is
reprinted for you here:
Problem 1. Employment Contracts and Wrongful Discharge
Mr. Discrimina, through Eunice, requests that his employee Jim
Arbor sign what he calls a confidentiality agreement. He offers
to "consider profit sharing and salary increases" if Jim signs,
but does not put profit sharing and wage increases in writing.
Jim asks to read the paper before he signs and finds that it also
contains a non-competition agreement not allowing Jim to do
any machining, mechanical engineering or any work on
industrial parts for a period of five years after leaving the
company, anywhere in the world. Jim feels that he is being
taken advantage of, but does not know what to do. He has been
threatened with discharge if he doesn't sign.
Questions
Analyze Jim Arbor's situation. Does he have an employment
contract now? What is it? Should he ask for the salary increase
to be in writing? Why or why not?
Is it fair for Eunice to take advantage of the fact that Jim does
not know why his invention and services have suddenly become
more valuable? Explain. Is it fair for her to be the one to
approach him, given their personal relationship? Explain.
Below is the case study to answer the above to questions
This is Case Study A

2. Course Materials
The following case study features problems and issues related to
employment law. The case is fictional yet realistic to illustrate
points in the lecture and text and to provide problems within
legal cases to solve. This case and Case Study B will be used
for a number of weeks.
Important Note: Your weekly class assignments will notify you
when to work on this case.
A small corporation, Discrimina, Inc. is a small parts machining
shop owned by Hank Discrimina and his daughter, Eunice
Discrimina. Discrimina, Inc. makes high quality agricultural
parts for some of the agricultural implement manufacturers.
Mr. Discrimina is thinking of retiring and has considered selling
out for about $1.2 million. His machine shop has only 15
employees and is appraised at only $600,000.00 including the
steel building, grounds, machines, parts, and going business
value.
Defense Plants, Inc. has just offered to acquire the entire
company for $1 million, and Hank Discrimina is allowing them
to check out his company to see why they want to pay so much
for a small machine shop. The agreement at this point gives
both parties full rights to back out and allows Defense Plants
executives to check out the place.
Defense Plants, Inc. has large government contracts and also
does work for private individuals. They sell ammunition for
military and sporting uses.
Because of their large contracts with the government, Defense
Plants, Inc. has a group of people whose sole job is to comply
with government regulations. Defense Plants also has an
excellent human resources department that has developed a
policy for nearly everything likely to come up in the area of
employment disputes. The company is non-union. In contrast,
Discrimina, Inc. is the alter ego of one man and to a lesser
extent, his daughter. The company does not comply with
employment laws. Up until recently, Discrimina was regulated

3. mostly by state law, but recent expansions have put them into
federal jurisdiction in a number of areas.
During the tour of his plant, Mr. Discrimina asks his visitors
from Defense Plants what military purpose his small machine
shop could possibly have. Dave from Defense Plants politely
declines to answer the question.
A uniformed Navy officer appears the next day and asks Mr.
Discrimina to sign a secrecy agreement. Mr. Discrimina
recognizes the officer's voice from calls made from a small
implement manufacturer in another state. He puts two and two
together and concludes that the whole reason the government
and the other machine company are cooperating on this whole
deal is to obtain access to the one specific machined part that
has a military use. He also realizes that only one specific
employee is qualified to machine the specific part. In fact, the
employee, Jim Arbor, his best machinist, was the one who
invented the part. Jim had come to work for Discrimina because
he had needed to stay in the area for domestic reasons. One
more important detail is that Jim is dating Eunice Discrimina.
Mr. Discrimina is now considering selling the part directly to
the government instead of selling his business. But there are
employment law problems to solve before he can qualify as a
government contractor.
One problem has to do with terminating employees. The
Discrimina, Inc. handbook says, "If you are a good employee
and keep up with your work, I won't fire you. But, if I want to
close the plant, I can immediately fire everyone. I can also
change this manual any time I want."
During the past six months, without updating the manual, Mr.
Discrimina has fired three employees, all without logging any
problems into Discrimina's employment records. When asked,
Mr. Discrimina says the three employees were harassing Rita
Land, his bookkeeper, and he does not tolerate that at his
company.
The men consider Rita part of management because she works
mostly in the office annex. Rita considers herself an ordinary

4. employee, even though she is frequently in on confidential
business planning with Hank Discrimina and his daughter,
Eunice, the Vice President.
If the company becomes a government contractor, Discrimina
would have to have a health plan and would have to raise
wages. There is no health plan now, due to increased costs
resulting from the illnesses of the oldest employee, Frank
Oldburr.
Case Study A Problems
Problem 1. Employment contracts and wrongful discharge
Mr. Discrimina, through Eunice, requests that his employee Jim
Arbor sign what he calls a confidentiality agreement. He offers
to "consider profit sharing and salary increases" if Jim signs,
but does not put profit sharing and wage increases in writing.
Jim asks to read the paper before he signs and finds that it also
contains a non-competition agreement not allowing Jim to do
any machining, mechanical engineering or any work on
industrial parts for a period of five years after leaving the
company, anywhere in the world. Jim feels that he is being
taken advantage of, but does not know what to do. He has been
threatened with discharge if he doesn't sign.
Questions
Analyze Jim Arbor's situation. Does he have an employment
contract now? What is it? Should he ask for the salary increase
to be in writing? Why or why not?
Is it fair for Eunice to take advantage of the fact that Jim does
not know why his invention and services have suddenly become
more valuable? Explain. Is it fair for her to be the one to
approach him, given their personal relationship? Explain.
Problem 2. Lack of minority hiring, evidence of discrimination
There are no minority or foreign born employees at Discrimina,
Inc, even though the local community consists of many newly
arrived people of Mexican extraction. For years, the ads for new
employees all contained the phrase, "must have solid ties to the
community and top English communication skills." For that
reason, few Mexican people have ever applied for work at

5. Discrimina.
Assignment
Rewrite the ad, in a way that will attract, rather than repel,
Mexican or other foreign born applications. Then prepare a
memo to the executives at Discrimina, Inc. advising them of
why they should use your version of the ad.
Problem 3. Hostile atmosphere for one gender
The atmosphere at Discrimina, due more to the influence of a
few employees, not the owner himself, is markedly hostile to
women. Rita Land and Shirley Baker are the only two women
employees in the plant. Rita, who does billing and bookkeeping,
needs to go onto the plant floor to tally up parts and make sure
items have been shipped. She has warned Shirley Baker not to
even go onto the shop floor. Unless the owner is present, Rita is
at risk of being harassed with rude or suggestive comments.
Rita maintains a tough exterior, but she has had to pay over
$5,000.00 for counseling and medication to overcome the
depression and fear that her doctor says is caused by the
harassment.
Questions
Review Rita's problem in the light of Sexual Harassment laws
and related cases.
Next go over the legal case "Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc.,"
510 U.S. 17 (1993).
In a Word document, evaluate whether Discrimina, Inc. would
likely be held liable in court for Rita Land's counseling and
medication expenses if she sues.
Problem 4.
English Only?
Be sure to refer to the Garcia v. Spun Steak Company case.
The job ad that Discrimina created to encourage legal
immigrants to apply for jobs was successful. Three new machine
operators are immigrants from Mexico, all who speak some
English as a second language to their Spanish. They all have
Vo-Tech training and are considered excellent employees. They
are Luis, Carlo, and Benito.

6. Luis, one of the new employees, is married to Juana, an
immigrant from Guatemala, who is very good with numbers. She
was hired part-time to assist Eunice with inventory control and
clerical tasks. After she started, Juana complained that the other
two Mexican men were calling her names. Eunice is normally
the only supervisor around when the name calling takes place,
and she does not speak Spanish. Juana has asked for an English
only policy and Eunice thinks it might be illegal to do that.
Questions
How should Eunice solve this problem?
How might the case of
Garcia v. Spun Steak Company
provide guidelines to resolve some of the issues?
Problem 5. Safety First
Discrimina, Inc. recently received a number of correction orders
from OSHA. The local Fire Marshall has also warned them that
the welding area does not comply with the fire codes. In
particular, the stairwell is not up to OSHA or state fire codes. It
is an open stairs in the office annex next to the shop. The owner
contends that it is not a problem, since it is not even in the same
building where welding occurs, but the inspectors all say it is
not up to code. Both OSHA and the fire inspector want an
entirely new enclosed stairway to be built. They also want a
completely fireproof wall between the shop and the office
annex. The CEO has heard negative things about OSHA and
doubts he needs to follow their recommendations.
Question
Draft a memo to the CEO explaining that OSHA compliance
saves lives. Use examples from the OSHA website.
http://www.osha.gov
. Check out
OSHA Saves Lives
within the site to illustrate your point.
Problem 6. Health Care Plan
Frank Oldburr is the oldest employee at Discrimina, Inc. He is
now 62 and has some health problems. The company-wide

7. health plan has been discontinued, partly due to Frank's health
problems. The premium kept going up. Some of the employees
who don't like Frank have asked Discrimina to fire him and then
reinstate the health plan.
Questions
What is Discrimina Inc.'s legal responsibility to provide health
insurance to employees?
What legal options does Frank Oldburr have to get himself
covered with a health plan?
Is there any way to come to a win-win situation here? Explain.
Problem 7. Dollars for Waiting?
Jeffrey Swift has been a messenger used by a couple of the local
businesses where the Discrimina, Inc. machine shop is located.
Sometimes he has done some extra errands inside the
Discrimina building for a couple of hours. For the last several
weeks, he has helped package items for shipment on Thursdays.
Things have gone well, but Jeffrey is concerned because
sometimes he has waited over two hours in the waiting room
while waiting for the packaging to begin. He wouldn't mind but
Discrimina pays only for packaging time, not for waiting
time. He can never be certain when the parts will be ready for
packaging because final quality checking time varies wildly.
Jeffrey has his own delivery business, but Discrimina has only
paid him cash. Each time, Jeffrey has given the company a
receipt for the cash. While he waits, he sometimes goes out for
donuts for the crew. At other times, he plays games on his PDA
or makes cell calls to friends.
Question
If Jeffrey Swift sues for the waiting time hours, what is the
likely result and why? Write your answer in a Word document
in 1-2 pages.
Problem 8. Help Wanted!
Evaluate the Want Ads below in terms of employment law.
Help Wanted at Discrimina, Inc.
In recent weeks, Discrimina, Inc. has advertised for the
following openings. Evaluate the notices from the standpoint of

8. employment law:
New "parts man" to keep track of inventory. Must be able to go
up and down numerous steps without assistance, do a dead lift
of 75 pounds and read and write the English language as a
native speaker. The applicant has to be polite to the ladies in
the office.
Female needed to do typing and light bookkeeping. Must have
H.S. diploma, solid ties to the community, and be able to handle
rough talk and mild teasing. Applicant should have between 2
and 5 years of experience. Applicant needs to solve any day
care problems before taking job.
Machinist needed. High pay for the right able bodied man (or
gal!). Experience and Vo-Tech training needed. Health and
retirement benefits are available after initiation period. Must be
willing to work Mondays through Saturdays. Must not have
disruptive attitudes or lifestyle. No religious nuts, addicts,
crazies, or drunks.
Junior executive position, personnel. Work with machinists and
office staff. Prefer an Asian, Black, Latino, or White woman
with experience in personnel matters including anti-
discrimination compliance. No old white dudes, please, we are
full up!
Gal Friday. Go-fer and greeter in sales office, willing to run
errands and do light office work. Will consider young man for
this job, if willing to forgo advancement.
Problem 9. Americans with Disability Act
Discrimina, Inc. has no policy regarding disabled employees.
The only disabled employee has the title of "inventory parts
man" and is in a wheel chair. His name is Bob Yates. Bob has to
go back and forth from the shop floor to the office annex. He is
unable to access his computer on the second floor of the office
annex without having to interrupt another employee to push him
up the steps. Bob has become upset about this and several
times has asked management for an elevator or for his office to
be moved. He says he feels he has been treated as a second class
employee.

9. Question
The EEOC has decided not to require the company to provide an
elevator for Bob or to mover his office, because it would create
too much of a hardship for the employer. Bob belongs to a
religion that prohibits him from "going to court," except in
extreme situations, so realistically, Discrimina doesn't have to
do anything. Nevertheless, Eunice is thinking about helping
Bob. What advice can give her to help make this determination?
What are the pros and cons for this decision?
Problem 10. Is alcohol abuse a disability?
The employee handbook allows discharge of an employee for
any Driving Under the Influence conviction, or for alcoholism,
whether job related or not. This is because the owner's sister
was killed by a drunken driver.
Question
Is Discrimina, Inc. in compliance with laws in regard to alcohol
use? Explain and cite support for your answer.
Problem 11. Union organization of a small shop
About 6 months ago, Arnold, one of the machinists at
Discrimina, Inc., and Rita in the office, posted union signs in
the shop and tried to organize the employees into the new
Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Machinists Union. Mr.
Discrimina hollered and tore down the posters and said that he
would burn down the place before he would allow a union to
organize his shop.
Question
What rights do Arnold and Rita have to unionize? What are
acceptable responses from the employer?