Compensation - Employment Law - Past Paper, Exams of Law

Download Compensation - Employment Law - Past Paper and more Exams Law in PDF only on Docsity! EXAM#_____________________ Page 1 of 8 Grigg, Employment Law, Final Take Home Exam, Fall 2011 FINAL EXAMINATION EMPLOYMENT LAW FALL 2011 PROFESSOR VERNON C. GRIGG III You have A PERIOD OF 24 (TWENTY-FOUR) HOURS from the time you pick up this exam to complete and submit it, the final deadline for all submissions shall be December 9, 2011, by 5 pm. When you come to pick up your exam you must time stamp the first page of this packet, and when you come to submit your answers, you must time stamp both the first page of this packet again, and your answers. Your submission should be handed to either Ben Mayr or Pat Paulson in the Law Faculty Center, room 2333. Additionally, please use your exam number to identify your submission. Do not use your name, student ID number, social security number, or any other identifying information other than your exam number. If you do not know your exam number, you can obtain it from the Law Registrar’s Office, room 3310. Staff in the Law Faculty Center will not be able to inform you of your exam number. Within the 24 hour period, you may work whenever and wherever you like; however, you are not permitted to communicate with any other person about the content of the exam or of your answers to the questions presented. This examination is given to you subject to the GGU Student Code of Conduct to which you agree to abide and which forbids the discussion of the exam or its contents with any member of the class who has not taken the exam. This is an open book exam. You are allowed to use your textbook and any and all materials and notes from the class. However, no outside materials or independent research may be done, except the EEOC's regulations regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act, which can be found at: http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/regulations/index.cfm. I am testing your personal knowledge and analytical skills based on your reading of the assigned material and our class discussions. I will also evaluate and grade you on your ability to write concise, logical and thoughtful responses to the questions. In crafting your responses, please bear in mind that clarity and organization are important. I strongly suggest that you outline your answers before you begin to write. If you find that it would be useful to have additional information, explain what information you would like to know and how it would be useful to your analysis. This exam should have eight (8) pages. Please ensure you have them all. There are four (4) questions to this examination. You are expected to complete them all. GOOD LUCK! EXAM#_____________________ Page 2 of 8 Grigg, Employment Law, Final Take Home Exam, Fall 2011 Question 1 Camille, the owner of Safety Support Systems, Inc. (“SSS”) a Bay Area company that designs and builds scaffolding for large construction projects, is a longtime client of the firm at which you have been recently hired as an associate. For many years, she ran her small company in a way that was largely informal. The company did not have many formal policies or procedures and most of the 80 employees were hired because Camille knew them, or knew someone in their family, personally. The company has very low turnover and many of the employees have been with the company 10 years or more. Recently, SSS purchased another company named Worksite Pro, Inc. (“WPI”), which operated out of a Santa Rosa. The acquired company was not a competitor, but rather operated as the sales force for an array of construction jobsite products, including a competitors’ scaffolding product. The acquisition was a big one for SSS, resulting in the addition of 65 new workers. With the addition of new employees that she did not hire, Camille figured it was time for her company to have some formal policies and a written employment manual. To save money on legal fees, she decided to draft the manual herself. She has now submitted it to the firm for review. Below are some of the operative sections. Compensation: Paychecks will be issued bi-weekly. Paychecks may be picked up at the accounting office of the home office on alternative Fridays. All production workers are hourly employees and will be paid based on the number of hours that they actually work. Hourly workers are required to keep timecards recording the time that the start and end each work day. Production workers are required to clock out anytime they leave the shop floor. Hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week must be approved, in writing, in advance, by a supervisor, or they will not be paid. Authorized hours beyond 40 hours in a given week will be paid at the rate of 1.5 times the normal rate. Each production worker is allowed to take a lunch break of no more than 45 minutes during which they are required to remain on company premises. Workers must clock out during their lunch break. The office personnel are considered to be salaried employees and are paid a fixed salary, regardless of the number of hours worked. Salaried employees are not eligible for overtime but do not need to log their time with the time-clock and can leave their workstation from time to time without any loss in pay. Office personnel are allowed to take a 45 minute lunch break during each shift, and are allowed to leave the premises during that time. Sales Personnel are independent contractors. Sales personnel do not have assigned hours, but work at their own discretion and on their own terms. Sales personnel are compensated solely on a commission basis. At the end of each pay period, sales personnel are paid 5% of gross sales on all sales in their assigned territory during the previous pay period. Pay Confidentiality The Company respect the privacy of all employees and considers pay to be a confidential matter. Employees are paid based on their individual value to Company. Employees should not EXAM#_____________________ Page 5 of 8 Grigg, Employment Law, Final Take Home Exam, Fall 2011 Question 3 Note: the following factual scenario is based generally on certain recent current events. The facts however, have been intentionally changed for purposes of this question. Do apply any facts to the situation not gained from the text of the problem. Joe Paterno served as head football coach for the Pennsylvania State University (“University” or “PSU”) Nittany Lions for 46 years. During that tenure he was, by most measures, the most successful coach in college football history, receiving virtually every award and accolade the sports world had to offer. He has led his team to two national championships, dozens of bowl victories and had one of the highest student-athlete graduation rates in all of college sports. In 2006, he was elected to the college football Hall of Fame – the only coach to ever be so elected while still actively coaching. In recognition of this honor and to express its gratitude, the University erected a bronze statue in his likeness at the entrance to the football stadium. In late 2008, Paterno’s existing employment contract was set to expire and many speculated that since he was approaching his 82nd birthday, he would retire at the end of the contract term. Instead, Paterno began negotiations with PSU on a new contract. On December 17, 2008, the Associated Press ran the following story: STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Penn State coach Joe Paterno has a new three-year contract extension to go along with his new hip. The Hall of Famer and winningest coach in major college football history has agreed to a new deal with the university, the athletic department said Tuesday in a statement. The agreement will provide "for the opportunity of Coach Joe Paterno leading the football program through the 2011 season," the statement said. JoePa turns 82 on Sunday. "It was also agreed that the parties might re-evaluate their circumstances and alter the arrangement by either shortening or extending its length as necessary," the statement said. The agreement ends months of speculation about Paterno's future since his current deal had expired following this season. University president Graham Spanier and Paterno had announced in the spring that “Paterno didn't need something in writing to stay on a job he's had [for] a record 43 years”. In 2009, Paterno was named to Sporting News' list of the 50 greatest coaches of all time (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, college basketball, and college football). He was listed in position 13. In 2010, the Big Ten Conference (the NCAA conference in which PSU competes) established the Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy as the annual trophy to be awarded to the annual winner of the conference football championship. EXAM#_____________________ Page 6 of 8 Grigg, Employment Law, Final Take Home Exam, Fall 2011 On November 5, 2011, a longtime member of Paterno’s coaching staff, former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, was arrested on 40 counts relating to sexual abuse of eight young boys over a 15-year period, including alleged incidents that occurred at Penn State facilities. A 2011 grand jury investigation reported that then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary told Paterno in 2002 that he had seen Sandusky abusing a 10-year-old boy in Penn State football's shower facilities. The grand jury report would later detail that McQueary saw Sandusky sodomizing the boy. According to the report, Paterno notified Athletic Director Tim Curley the next day about the incident, and later notified Gary Schultz, director of business and finance, who oversaw the University Police. The University conducted an internal investigation of the allegations and found them to be unsupported by the evidence available to the internal investigators. No report was made to outside law enforcement authorities. Upon learning of Sandusky’s arrest, Paterno expressed shocked. He issued a statement regarding the 2002 allegations and said that McQueary informed him that "he had witnessed an incident in the shower ... but he at no time related to me the very specific actions contained in the Grand Jury report." Prosecutors have stated that Paterno is not accused of any wrongdoing, as he fulfilled his legal obligation to report the incident to his immediate supervisor, Curley. However, he was harshly criticized for not reporting the incident to police himself, or at least seeing to it that it was reported, as many have concluded from the facts that are currently known. Several advocates for sexual abuse victims have called for charges to be brought against him for not contacting the police himself – though it is clear he was under no legal obligation to do so. On November 7, Pennsylvania state police Commissioner Frank Noonan said that while Paterno was not in any legal difficulty, "somebody has to question about what I would consider the moral requirements for a human being that knows of sexual things that are taking place with a child." The following day, as public pressure grew on Coach Paterno and the University, Paterno announced that he would retire at the end of the current season stating: "...I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can." Instead of accepting this tender of resignation, the Trustees of the University met hastily that evening and decided to fire Paterno, effective immediately, and to demand his immediate departure from the program and all University facilities. The Trustees considered allowing Paterno to remain until the end of the season but decided that doing so “would further sully the image of Penn State’s image.” In addition, the Trustees stated their displeasure that Paterno had spoken to the press about the matter. The next day, the Big Ten Conference removed Paterno’s name from its championship trophy. Seven days later, the University took down the bronze statue of him and put it up for sale on EBAY – the proceeds from which will go to nonprofit organizations that combat child sexual exploitation. That decision has generated intense press and internet interest and is the subject of late-night talk show humor. Paterno’s employment contract established his pay at $750,000 and contained a clause provided for a “lifetime service bonus” of $500,000 that would be paid in the event that Paterno EXAM#_____________________ Page 7 of 8 Grigg, Employment Law, Final Take Home Exam, Fall 2011 retired from coaching college football at the end of the contract term. In addition, the contract provided that Paterno could be dismissed for cause which was defined to be: a breach of a duty of loyalty to PSU or the commission of a felony or any crime of moral turpitude. Paterno makes significant money from endorsements, from operating summer skills camps and from speaking engagements. Last year, his income from those activities totaled $1.5 million. Paterno has come to you as one of the preeminent plaintiff-side employment lawyers in the country to help him understand whether or not he has grounds to sue the University under any cause of action or legal theories. If so, what damages should he pursue? What are his chances for success with such a suit? Please write him a letter assessing his legal position. If there are missing pieces of information that would enable you to better analyze a particular claim, please request it. Mr. Paterno’s address is: Joe Paterno 55 Joe Paterno Way Happy Valley, PA 64411 END OF QUESTION 3