Captain, Crunch and Associates in Labor Law: Essay

Captain, Crunch and Associates in Labor Law:

I am the office manager for the Italian Brothers restaurant. We are preparing to dismiss a part-time employee and while we do so reluctantly, we do consider it a necessary measure. We thank you for your consideration of the facts, our position and our request for counsel.

In short, Niko is a part-time employee who worked a variant of hours, had always been reliable and has generally been eager to learn more both as a server and an aspiring chef. A student nearing graduation, Niko had a bad night in which he burnt his hand on hot running water and, subsequently, lost his temper with a customer. Shortly thereafter, rumors emerged that Niko was planning on opening a competing Italian Restaurant nearby. Recognizing that Niko has learned and even written down our establishment's family-developed recipes, we are concerned about his intentions. We consider termination an immediately necessary step to protecting our establishment from the further pilfering of critical trade secrets.

We have conducted some preliminary legal research on our options. As Parpal (2012) advises, "it is important to know your local employment and labor laws to be sure you are not setting foot on illegal ground by dismissing an employee. Check your decisions against Equal Opportunity Employment Laws and any other local employment laws." (Parpal, p. 1)

We have done this and have been able to determine that as a part-time member of our team, Niko served as an at-will employee. As such, we are legally entitled to terminate the employee at any time without giving cause so long as there is no demonstrated trend of employee harassment or wrongful discrimination. Also of particular note regarding the terms of at-will employment, no explanation is required for the termination. Because it would be disingenuous to attribute…