Employment Standards and Human Rights in Alberta

Part A: Employment Standards Scenarios

Part A – Employment Standards

For the following two scenarios, did the employer violate the Alberta Employment Standards Act?  Explain (i.e. yes or no) your answer in a few sentences – about ½ page of single spaced text.  Provide at least one APA style reference citation which supports your answer.

1. Buddy has been working at Airway (a local fast food restaurant) as a Counter Attendant for the past 2.5 months.  At the end of a shift on Thursday, Latisha, his manager, tells him that he is being fired, effective immediately.  When Buddy asks “Why?”  she mumbles something to him to the effect that she finds him “annoying.”  Buddy had been scheduled to work two more 8 hour shifts that week on Saturday and Sunday.

Buddy was totally surprised by his abrupt termination. He thought he was performing his job competently; no manager had ever given him feedback, either positive or negative, about his performance.  He was pretty sure that he had a case for Wrongful Dismissal.

On Monday, Buddy contacted Latisha and asked that any wages owed to him, including pay for the Saturday and Sunday shifts he was scheduled for (but didn’t work), be paid to him before by Friday (i.e. within 7 days of his termination).  Latisha told him that his pay would be paid to him on the next scheduled payday, which was the following Monday.

On the following Monday, Buddy was paid.  His pay cheque did not include pay for the Saturday and Sunday shifts he had been scheduled to work.

2. Deaner has completed his first year of full-time employment at Tron’s Pipeline Servicing on November 1 and is now entitled to his annual vacation. Deaner has his heart set on his dream vacation: two weeks at Manyberries, AB’s finest resort hotel, at the end of March.

Terry, Deaner’s supervisor, has gone ahead and scheduled Deaner’s vacation.  Deaner is slated to get 3 days off in January, 4 days off in April, and 3 days off in November.  The January and November days off are scheduled midweek – Tuesday to Thursday.  

Deaner is very disappointed with how his vacation was scheduled.  He feels he’s been treated unfairly. He is contacting Employment Standards to see if he can demand to take his two weeks of annual vacation in March.

Part B – Employment Standards –

For the following scenarios, calculate the number of overtime hours that the employee is entitled to under “normal” Alberta Employment Standards rules.  Show your work.  Hint: Use the example posted on the Blackboard site - Course Materials – Chapter 2 – Section 4, Additional Learning Materials – to format your answer.

1. Juan, a Counter Attendant, works the following shifts at Him Torton’s (a local fast food restaurant) in a week

Monday – 4 hours

Tuesday – 4 hours

Wednesday – 10 hours

Thursday – 4 hours

Friday – 6 hours

Saturday – 7 hours

Sunday – 3 hours

2. Karan, the Store Manager, works the following shifts at Him Torton’s (a local fast food restaurant) in a week

Monday – 8 hours

Tuesday – 8 hours

Wednesday – off

Thursday – 10 hours

Friday – 12 hours

Saturday – off

Sunday – 9 hour

Part C - Human Rights

Dr. Phil Korkoran recently applied to teach the Humorous Resources class at Medical Cap College (MCC). Despite having an outstanding teaching background, he did not get the job. Understandingly, Dr. Korkoran was disappointed, so he contacted the Director of HR at MCC and asked why.  The HR Director told Dr. Korkoran that because he was unable to change his facial expression to a smile or a frown, students would be unable to understand his lectures.  Without the ability to smile or frown, he would be ineffective as a Humorous Resources instructor.

(Note: It turns out that Dr. Korkoran was the victim of a botched Botox surgical procedure that destroyed his facial muscles that he needed to smile and frown.)

Dr. Korkoran is considering filing a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

Write a short essay of about ¾ of page (single space) that addresses the following points:

- Has unfair discrimination taken place?  If so, on what proscribed grounds? If so, was it direct or indirect discrimination?  

- Has the employer identified a BFOR? If so, what is the BFOR?

- Has the employer attempted reasonable accommodation to the point of undue hardship?  In your opinion, is reasonable accommodation possible?  Why or why not?

Part D - Chapter 1 Question

You work in HR for Buddy’s Auto Body and Day Spa.  Your company has had really good success with employing older workers – employees who are 55 and older.  Buddy, the owner, wants to be sure that his business can be an attractive place to work for these older workers.

You’ve read Chapter 1 in the textbook and you’ve noted that many savvy companies look to improve the Employee Experience to attract and retain good employees.  Perhaps there are a few changes to HR policies and procedures that Buddy could make to enhance the Employee Experience for 55+ workers.

Write a one-page (single space) essay that suggests 4 different HR policies or practices that Buddy could implement that could improve the Employee Experience for 55+ workers.  Each policy or practice must come from a different HR area (i.e. pick 4 of the 13 areas listed in Slide 2 in the Chapter 1 Power Point presentation to write about.)