PL220R1 Civil Litigation PL220 Fact Pattern PL220 Fact Pattern On January 7, of last year, Darlene Rakowski was proud to be the first woman to be hired for a nonsecretarial position by Montez Construction Company. Adam Stroud, the foreman who hired her, said he really didn’t think a woman was tough enough for the job. But, Ms. Rakowski was determined to try. As she arrived the first day, catcalls and whistles erupted from the crew. A couple of the men followed her, doing an exaggerated bump and grind. The sexual behavior ended after Ms. Rakowski complained to the foreman. The next week, however, Ms. Rakowski was assigned menial tasks, primarily fetch and carry orders on the ground. Rarely was she allowed to work with equipment on actual construction, although her vocational school training had prepared her to do so. Her usually competent work on these simple tasks elicited loud mocking from her co-workers and almost weekly profane outbursts from Adam Stroud, the foreman. His complaints never included instructions on how to do a better job, but rather references to Ms. Rakowski’s stupidity and worthlessness, and were always made in front of other workers. When a male worker made mistakes, Mr. Stroud called him into his office for a quiet conference. Ms. Rakowski went to Mr. Stroud to complain about her treatment, and he responded that she was taking it too seriously. As the incidents continued over the next month, Ms. Rakowski became more distraught, occasionally bursting into tears, which only intensified the mocking and jeering from her fellow workers. In desperation she went to Carlos Montez, owner of the company. He promised to look into the problem, and advised her to “loosen up.” Conditions did not change. Complaints about the quality of her work and her inability to lift certain items, follow directions, and operate tools safely were filed in her personnel record. She was not given the normal opportunity to rebut such charges. Very upset, Ms. Rakowski missed more and more work. On March 15 of the same year, she began to seek counseling from Dr. Shrinker who diagnosed her with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and advised her to seek other employment. Having made her decision to look for another job, Ms. Rakowski travels from employment agency to employment agency with no success. She feels trapped, wondering, “What am I going to do?” She comes to your office on April 10 of the same year in hopes of seeking further options as the counseling is not providing much closure. On May 19 of the same year, Ms. Rakowski filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). She was unrepresented and did not understand how to present evidence in to prove her claim and the claim was subsequently dismissed. She then received a letter stating that she had a certain period of time in which she could appeal the decision by filing a private lawsuit. On June 4, a few weeks later, she arrived at your law office for an appointment.

1. PL220R1 Civil Litigation
PL220 Fact Pattern
PL220 Fact Pattern
On January 7, of last year, Darlene Rakowski was proud to be
the first woman to be hired for a nonsecretarial position by
Montez Construction Company. Adam Stroud, the foreman who
hired her, said he really didn’t think a woman was tough enough
for the job. But, Ms. Rakowski was determined to try. As she
arrived the first day, catcalls and whistles erupted from the
crew. A couple of the men followed her, doing an exaggerated
bump and grind. The sexual behavior ended after Ms. Rakowski
complained to the foreman.
The next week, however, Ms. Rakowski was assigned menial
tasks, primarily fetch and carry orders on the ground. Rarely
was she allowed to work with equipment on actual construction,
although her vocational school training had prepared her to do
so. Her usually competent work on these simple tasks elicited
loud mocking from her co-workers and almost weekly profane
outbursts from Adam Stroud, the foreman. His complaints never
included instructions on how to do a better job, but rather
references to Ms. Rakowski’s stupidity and worthlessness, and
were always made in front of other workers. When a male
worker made mistakes, Mr. Stroud called him into his office for
a quiet conference. Ms. Rakowski went to Mr. Stroud to
complain about her treatment, and he responded that she was
taking it too seriously.
As the incidents continued over the next month, Ms. Rakowski
became more distraught, occasionally bursting into tears, which
only intensified the mocking and jeering from her fellow

2. workers. In desperation she went to Carlos Montez, owner of
the company. He promised to look into the problem, and advised
her to “loosen up.”
Conditions did not change. Complaints about the quality of her
work and her inability to lift certain items, follow directions,
and operate tools safely were filed in her personnel record. She
was not given the normal opportunity to rebut such charges.
Very upset, Ms. Rakowski missed more and more work. On
March 15 of the same year, she began to seek counseling from
Dr. Shrinker who diagnosed her with Post-traumatic Stress
Disorder and advised her to seek other employment. Having
made her decision to look for another job, Ms. Rakowski travels
from employment agency to employment agency with no
success. She feels trapped, wondering, “What am I going to
do?” She comes to your office on April 10 of the same year in
hopes of seeking further options as the counseling is not
providing much closure. On May 19 of the same year, Ms.
Rakowski filed a charge with the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). She was unrepresented and
did not understand how to present evidence in to prove her
claim and the claim was subsequently dismissed. She then
received a letter stating that she had a certain period of time in
which she could appeal the decision by filing a private lawsuit.
On June 4, a few weeks later, she arrived at your law office for
an appointment to discuss her case. Your supervising attorney
asks you to perform the initial interview because you just read
an article on the EEOC’s web site regarding the statistics of
sexual harassment in the workplace and are up to speed on the
law in this area.
©2008 Westwood College
Page 1 of 1
Last Modified: 10/28/2008

3. Assignment 2: Required Assignment 2—Career Development
Plan
In this assignment, you will recommend the components of a
career development planning program and explain how the plan
will integrate the organization’s mission and value statements.
Consider the following scenario:
You work in the HR Department of an electric power company
in the southwestern region of the U.S. The company was
founded in 1940 and has an excellent reputation as a provider of
electricity. It is also considered to be an outstanding corporate
citizen and known to be an excellent place to work. It has been
ranked among the top three employers in the community for
several years.
Its mission is to serve customer’s needs for electric power in
ways that provide exceptional value to all stakeholders
including customers, shareholders, employees, and the
communities in which it operates.
Its values include providing a safe work environment; fairness
and respect for customers, employees, shareholders, and
partners; honoring commitments to use resources wisely;
providing a high quality of work life for its employees; and
striving for excellence and having fun.
Given its long history, many of its current employees are
children or grandchildren of former employees so there are
close family ties to the company as well as a sense of loyalty.
However, technological advancements in the power generation
business over the years have resulted in jobs being either
redesigned or eliminated. For example, in the past, the company

4. had many employees who read meters, which showed the
amount of electricity used by households. Meter readers
traveled from house to house each month to log the information
for billing purposes. Now meters are read automatically and
data is transferred to the billing department via computer. This
technological advancement eliminated the need for many
employees who were required to resign, be laid off, or be
retrained for other positions in the company.
The company faces a challenge as it strives to maintain its
reputation as an excellent employer in the community, and, yet
leverage advances in technology, which help it increase
efficiency and remain competitive.
As a member of the HR team, you have been tasked with the
responsibility of drafting a plan for a career development
program for the company which will help managers effectively
guide their staff in developing individual career development
plans that are integrated with and support the company’s
mission and values. Your report will be reviewed by senior HR
managers as well as executive directors.
The HR department will have conducted a needs assessment as
part of its strategic planning process to determine how the
company will achieve its goals and objectives over the next 5–
10 years. This assessment identifies areas where employees with
new skill-sets will be required as well as areas where current
employees with skill-sets may need to be either maintained or
reduced (laid off).
As part of their annual performance appraisal, all employees
will draft a personal and professional development plan on their
own which will then be discussed with their manager. This plan
should cover a five-year period and be reviewed and adjusted
annually. It should include both formal training programs and
individual initiatives to support personal and professional

5. development interests.
By combining information about the company’s needs from the
needs assessment and employees’ interests from the personal
and professional development plans, it will be possible to
develop a career planning program for the company that
identifies the overlap between the company’s needs and
employees’ interests and also detects gaps which could become
opportunities for growth in the future. Overlapping areas
indicate where the company needs skill-sets and the employees
want to develop them while gaps indicate where the company
needs skill-sets and there are no current employee interests in
that area.
This process should help the company achieve a greater return
on investment (ROI) from its training budget thus improving the
bottom line. It should also result in lower employee turnover
since employees will see that their personal and professional
growth and the company’s needs are in alignment so they will
be able to stay with the company and meet their personal and
professional development goals.
Instructions:
1. Develop a six-to-eight-page document in Word format
detailing how you would approach and organize a program to
address needs for development of the company as well as
individual employees. Be sure to clearly explain how you would
create the plan, but do not create the plan itself. Use the
following file naming convention:
LastnameFirstInitial_M5_A2.doc.
Address the following in the plan:
a. Identify the information needed to develop a template that
will be used to complete the individual employee’s learning
plan.

6. b. Identify the information needed in order to develop the
company’s needs assessment.
c. Explain how you would coordinate both the individual
employee’s plan and the company’s needs assessment into a
comprehensive development plan. Be sure to identify overlaps
or gaps.
d. Explain how you would use this information to create a
roadmap for development of a career development program for
the company.
e. Identify other factors that should be considered in this
program’s development.
f. Explain how the proposed plan would help managers
effectively guide their staff in developing individual career
development plans that are integrated with and support the
company’s mission and values.
2. Next, create a PowerPoint presentation for the senior
management explaining how this proposed plan would
contribute to the resolution of HR issues facing this company.
Use the following file naming convention:
LastnameFirstInitial_M5_A2.ppt.
Utilize at least three scholarly sources in your research. Apply
APA standards to citation of sources.
Make sure you write in a clear, concise, and organized manner;
demonstrate ethical scholarship in accurate representation and
attribution of sources; display accurate spelling, grammar, and
punctuation.
By Wednesday, October 8, 2014, deliver your assignment to the

7. M5: Assignment 2 Dropbox.
Assignment 2 Grading Criteria
Maximum Points
Identified the information needed in order to develop the
individual employee’s learning plan.
40
Identified the information needed in order to develop the
company’s needs assessment.
36
Explained how both the individual employee’s plan and the
company’s needs assessment will be coordinated to identify
overlaps and gaps.
44
Explained how this information will be used to create a roadmap
for development of a career development program for the
company.
36
Identified other factors that should be considered in this
program’s development.
36
Explained how the proposed plan would help managers
effectively guide their staff in developing individual career
development plans that are integrated with and support the
company’s mission and values.
44
Developed a PowerPoint presentation to present to senior
management explaining how this proposed plan would
contribute to the resolution of human resource issues facing this
company.
36
Wrote in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrated
ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of
sources; and displayed accurate spelling, grammar, and
punctuation.
28

8. Total:
300
This week you will complete Part 2: Settlement Brochure, Part
3: Bill of Costs, and Part 4: Disengagement Letter to Client of
Project 1. See Project 1 - Pre-Trial Through Post-Trial Process
under Projects for a complete description of this project.
· Part 2: Settlement Brochure (Due Week 9)
· Cover page with the proper caption and title
· Table of contents listing what should be included in the
settlement brochure
· Introduction paragraph discussing pre-trial to post-trial
process
· You may provide additional facts to prepare one paragraph for
each of the following:
· Plaintiff’s personal history
· Plaintiff’s medical history of the plaintiff
· Plaintiff’s medical expenses
· Effects of the injuries on the plaintiff
· Evaluation of the plaintiff’s claims, including loss of earnings
· Paragraphs written in a persuasive manner
· Punctuation and spelling error free
· Part 3: Bill of Costs (Due Week 9)
· Bill of Costs form
· Bill of Costs details based on the PL220 Project 1 Fact Pattern
and any necessary assumptions
· Client details based on PL220 Fact Pattern
· Federal district court fees determined by research
· Part 4: Disengagement Letter to Client (Due Week 9)
· Elements of a client disengagement letter researched
· Prepare the disengagement letter to the client
· Include a discussion of how you will hand the client’s’

9. confidential file post-engagement
· Letter appropriately formatted
· Punctuation and spelling error free
·
Project Outcomes
This assignment supports the following outcomes:
· Discuss elements of civil litigation from pre-trial to post-trial
· Apply the appropriate research methodology related to civil
litigation
· Value the importance of the civil litigation process
· Draft legal documents related to civil litigation
· Conduct effective investigations related to civil litigation
issues