Project Five

This client had an employee whose job performance had deteriorated to an unacceptable level. This employee had been with the company for a number of years in positions of increasing responsibility. About six months prior to the present situation, the employee was asked to assume a senior level role within the sales organization.

At the same time that the employee was taking on additional responsibilities, she began to develop personal problems with a fellow employee to whom she was related. The fellow employee was employed in the Human Resource role within the company. Management decided it would be in the best interest of all concerned to obtain outside assistance in handling this situation.

Management was very concerned that this employee's interaction with customers and fellow employees was getting worse. She was asked to step down from her senior level role after a number of customers voiced complaints. She was allowed to fulfill a role that she had previously held without a reduction in salary. The employee was qualified to be in a protected class under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. She had also informed management that she knew she had a case under Title VII if they decided to "get rid of her" in favor of the relative.

This employee's performance in her new role was also deemed unacceptable due to several new complaints from the same and different customers. Management felt that since this employee was responsible for dealing with customers in a sales environment, her poor performance, in addition to customer complaints, was having a very negative impact on the image of the organization.

When confronted with the customers' complaints and a request by management to discuss her deteriorating performance, the employee left the place of business, claiming the company was guilty of discrimination and she would consult a lawyer.

Northeast HR for Hire thoroughly investigated the circumstances, researched applicable laws and regulations and determined that there appeared to be no basis for the employee's charges of discrimination. After informing our client that it appeared that the company had indeed not violated any laws, we helped the client sort through the potential liabilities in the case. We advised the client that a charge could potentially be followed by a long lawsuit even though the employee didn't appear to have grounds for such a suit. Some of the issues, which needed to be addressed, included the potential nepotism issue and the consequences of this compounded by the employee's increased job responsibility and performance issues.

We helped the client think through all the possibilities and several alternative approaches to diffusing this situation and coming to an appropriate resolution of the problem with the employee. We assisted the company in drawing its own conclusions about the future employment of this individual.

Eventually, management decided it would like to sever the employment relationship and provide the employee with a financial package to ease the financial burden of the separation. We suggested that since the employee had threatened legal retaliation, the client should only offer a portion of the package. We suggested that the client send a letter to the employee requesting a resignation of employment, rather than threatening disciplinary action for her poor performance and voluntary termination. The strategy was to communicate in writing to the employee the company's desire to end the relationship amicably with a financial offer in exchange for a resignation.

It was felt that, if indeed the employee had contacted an attorney, the attorney would contact the company with a counter offer. The client could then determine how close the counter offer was to the original idea of settlement and respond. Our consultant advised that the settlement should include a full consent and unconditional release agreement signed by both parties.

We assisted the client in drafting the communication to the employee and then to the employee's attorney after the client did indeed receive a response from the employee's attorney.

Resolution:

With the assistance of Northeast HR for Hire, this issue was finally resolved without a lengthy legal battle. The employee resigned with a financial settlement in a range that the client had originally intended. In addition, she agreed to sign a statement releasing the client from any future legal ramifications stemming from the employee's separation. By avoiding lengthy litigation, our client felt that the money spent to hire one of our consultants was indeed cost-effective.