Wrongful Dismissal

In organizations, conflicts arising from administrative tasks, hiring, and general management are common. In today’s era, the personnel management arena operates in a confusing and complex era challenged by conflicts arising from superiority systems, legal norms, and administrative complexities. When these challenges occur, an organization needs to employ effective conflict management strategies since conflicts are bound to occur. Organizations should employ communication tools to navigate conflicts and mistakes between personnel and employees. This paper will elucidate a conflict that arose in Walmart company highlighting the situation and the outcomes, the conflict resolution alternatives adopted, and better alternatives that could have been used.

A Case Against Walmart due to Wrongful Dismissal  by Wong Jason

 Conflicts between employees and organization’s management are common in organizations. A good example of a conflict occurred in Walmart, where the company initiated a wrongful dismissal after failing to pay an employee her dues after working and leading to remarkable growth in the company. The employee was dissatisfied with the company’s order and headed to court to seek justice. The employee was working for Walmart as a District Manager under training, where she performed excellently in her role leading to promotions. The employees garnered the position of Vice-President of the General Merchandising. After working diligently for several years, the management informed her that she could be assigned to new roles to enable her to excel in her career and spearhead the organization’s success to high levels. However, the promises turned out to be a demotion. In coordination with the management, the Human resource reduced her responsibilities, and it turned out that she did not have any assigned duties to play in her new role as the company’s vice president. Besides, Walmart reduced the employee’s performance rating, terminated her salary without explanation, and issued her with a severance package (Wong, n.d.). This was a wrongful dismissal as the company did not inform the employee of the reasons for demotions but implemented it without the employee’s consent.

 The employee was dissatisfied with the company’s orders, and she headed to the court to present her claims. After twenty-nine days of the hearing, the court ruled in favor of the employees and accused Walmart of wrongful dismissal, aggravated damages, and punitive actions against the employment rights and contract (Wong, n.d.). The court ordered the company to pay the employees for its deplorable and mean acts against the employee (Wong, n.d.). Walmart had rendered the employee into a state of mental distress, which attracted a significant liability. Organizations should pay their employees their fair earned wages to avoid wrongful dismissal, which is a mistake in employee rights that calls for fair treatment. Unfair dismal leads to tension and conflicts in an organization, disrupting the smooth running of the organization.

Employees complaint are prone to occur in an organization. The affected bodies should adopt suitable conflict management strategies to avoid triggering further conflicts in an organization when they occur. In Walmart’s case, the employee filed a case of wrongful dismissal to the court to seek justice. In an organization, cases of wrongful dismissal are common, and suitable conflict resolution methods should be adopted. In this case, the employee could first present her grievance to the employer and employ conflict resolution strategies before seeking justice from the court. Communication is a suitable technique for handling conflicts in organizations. It enables all the affected bodies to present their complaints and brainstorm carefully before implementing a suitable solution from the available alternatives (Spaho, 2013). Before taking legal action, employees should communicate their grievances to the employer or the labor relations agencies and seek justice. If the problem is not solved within the organization through communication, the employee or other offended parties should seek legal action.

Employing communication to handle organizational conflicts will attract several processes. Firstly, the parties involved will examine the problem of wrongful dismissal presented by the employee closely and define it carefully using facts and information. They should refrain from using emotions when making decisions as emotions harbor effective judgment (Lerner et al., 2015). The management should inform the employees of the reasons for dismissal with useful facts and information. This will attract a brainstorming session where all members will contribute ideas, noting all the suitable solutions presented. Once the brainstorming session is over, the parties will select the best ideas from the alternatives presented. Communication with the employer could have been the best move by the employer before seeking justice from the court. The employer and the employer could develop suitable alternatives to favor the parties without involving the court, which will attract additional costs and create further conflicts due to dissatisfaction with the court orders. Court rulings should be sought when communication strategies are unsuccessful.

Different procedures could have been adopted to handle the case of wrongful dismissal. The court could employ the strategies for valid reasons to assess whether there were factors that led to the employee dismissal. The court applies procedural fairness and considerations using objective data and thorough investigation to assess if the dismissal was fair (Thomson, 2020). The employee could have committed conduct reasons which triggered the management to enact a dismissal. Besides, the court could delay the employee’s dismissal to allow further investigation before enacting a final judgment. These strategies could lead to a more favorable decision for all the parties involved.

In conclusion, conflicts are prone to occur in organizations. When they occur, suitable conflict resolution strategies should be adopted to avoid disrupting the smooth running of the organization. Communication is a suitable strategy for handling conflicts in the organization as it enables the affected bodies to brainstorm the conflict and establish an amicable solution. Employees should not be swift to seek legal actions from the courts before communicating their grievances with their employers.

References

Lerner, J., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. (2015). Emotion and Decision Making. Annual Review Of Psychology, 66(1), 799-823. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043

Spaho, K. (2013). Organizational communication and conflict management. Science Article.

Thomson, K. (2020). 7 steps to handling unfair dismissal claims. Hcamag.com. Retrieved 3 June 2022, from https://www.hcamag.com/au/specialisation/employment-law/7-steps-to-handling-unfair-dismissal-claims/235612.

Wong, J. Court orders Wal-Mart to pay employee $750,000 for its deplorable, mean conduct! — Wong Employment Law. Wong Employment Law. Retrieved 3 June 2022, from https://wongemploymentlaw.com/blog/2018/12/20/court-orders-wal-mart-to-pay-employee-750000-for-its-deplorable-mean-conduct.