Human Resources, Task1, Constructive discharge A constructive discharge occurs when an employee is legally justified in claiming that he was compelled to resign because the employer has made working conditions intolerable (By Gerard E. Dempsey and Janet N. Petsche August 1, 2006).In this situation, an employee resigns because the employer was unresponsive to a harassment complaint. Complaint is about policy requires employees to work on a religious holy day .In this scenario Discrimination is harassment on the basis of religion. Employees with written contracts of employment have been more successful in proving constructive discharge when their employers unilaterally change the nature of their jobs(By Gerard E. Dempsey and Janet N. Petsche August 1, 2006).If the employee has job agreement and description and that description includes work time then employer changed this work time and employee quit his job because of this reason that can cause employee sue the company. In order to prevent this kind of situation, employer should talk with employee about changing time shift or give permission to him during religious holyday. When employer hire their employee, he should come with agreement and job description otherwise this will cause problem every time. Human resource must make strong decision about their rules. May be source of problem is something else but employee approach the situation with discrimination. One of the possible thing is employee has part time job during weekend and because of this reason he can not continue his part time job and also maybe he spend his time with family during weekend since he had off days Saturdays and Sundays. This is common issue nowadays for divorced people because one of the part just can see their child/children during weekends. These two situations can be one of the sources of the problem. Also, being responsive on time could solve the problem. May be employee requested about time shift and probably he did not get satisfied respond then he filed a case against the company. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin(U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). Law requires religious accommodation such as: An employer is required to reasonably accommodate the religious belief of an employee, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). In this scenario discrimination is related to religion. Employer should be understandable about employees` religious days. I think there are just several religious days but employer should be aware of the rules that law requires. Other thing maybe relevant with this case is changing job agreement. Once employer done agreement with employee, he/she should not change it. It can cause this kind of problems. Employer should give and make long term decision for company and hire employees according to given decision. There are courses of action employer can take to address constructive discharge issues and avoid costly claims. Although it may not be possible to prevent employees from suing, there are some steps that the company can take to reduce the incidence of against a constructive discharge claim. Establish a formal grievance process and communicate It. This gives employees a channel for airing complaints. In addition, failure to take advantage of grievance procedures will count against an employee. Deal with Employee fairly and honestly. Do not attempt to encourage a problem employee to leave by making his life miserable. It could backfire and make your life miserable. There are several actions also need to be taken:
Conduct mediation and Conciliation technique. Constructive Discharge Mediation involves trained mediator who conducts a neutral meeting with parties. Mediator uses persuasion and people skills to facilitate dialogue, and utilizes their experience and expertise