Team Assignment Advanced Computer Technology ACT What went wrong! The business Your team represents the senior management team for Advanced Computer Technology, a company that sells high end computers specifically the M2020 . Your product is sold through retail stores but you have your customer service group headquartered in Vancouver for the west, Regina for the prairies, Toronto for Ontario and St John New Brunswick for Quebec and the Maritimes. You make the product in Vancouver. The head office is in Vancouver. Your product is a state of the art computer that has made headway in the market and your three year business plan is now in its final year and sales are exceeding your original target. Your customer service centers supply the customers with up to date information on functionality and troubleshooting. The long range plan is to position the M2020 to take on more of a pad or hand held device that is extremely popular with customers. This is new technology and needs some time to develop and will be a critical component of the 2020 to 2022 business plan. R&D is working on a prototype and hopes to have a working model by late 2019 . The new model will be the M2020, a hybrid between a laptop and a cell phone. The concept of multi use platforms is now the norm. The device will incorporate all new competitors functionality and more. Business has been very good and as you entered 2019 the last year of your three year plan the company believes it will exceed the original revenue targets. With your first three year plan coming to an end and a new three year plan is underway covering 2020 to 2022. The year 2019 was a bridge year as you develop the new M2020 and sales have continued to grow and the future looks very bright as R&D has successfully completed the 2 nd phase of testing for the M2020 and functionality and user interface has worked out as planned. The senior team is meeting to discuss the new three year plan covering 2020 to 2022 . The sales targets are aggressive and the marketing plan is critical to future growth. You have upgraded the 2019 Pad with new capability and you have repositioned it in the marketplace as the M2020 to capitalize on the new markets that are being driven by; Samsung, Apple and other innovative tech companies. The management team made up of a VP of Sales and Marketing, VP of Operations, Plant Manager, HR Director and Controller are meeting today to set the new course for the M2020 . The meeting is being held because the CEO Fred Moore has asked for an aggressive plan to capture more market share as the world has turned its eyes on Canada as the country has weathered many economic challenges and is viewed on the world stage as being very economically buoyant especially in light of the questionable world market and the current Middle East crisis. The meeting concludes with a very positive sales plan for Canada and abroad. Everyone is optimistic about the future of the M2020 . There are subsequent meetings arranged to bring the plan into focus and everyone is quite pleased with the progress. 1 The Issue You (HR director) return to the office to find your HR generalist Raphael Lisbon looking upset. Here is what takes place in your office: Your generalist Raphael Lisbon states that Jason Miles who was terminated by Sage Takata the Director Customer Service has hired a lawyer to represent him based on what he claims is wrongful dismissal. He is stating that his limitation (epilepsy) should have been accommodated. Further he has contacted the local newspaper with his story as he feels that someone must champion the cause of those who suffer from minor afflictions and attempt to work a regular job. Jason was employed as a customer service representative in Vancouvers office but was only employed for 2 months 1 week before he was terminated. He had not completed his probation period under the Employment Standards Act of British Columbia. He was hired Thursday September 12th 2019 and terminated on Tuesday November 19th, 2019. Jason was terminated because he shared with his manager Sage Takata that he suffered from epilepsy and that he had had attacks on the job before and he needed to let his employer know that this could happen again and he would need assistance. Sage believed that Jason being a customer service representative with this disability may cause issues with our customers who phone in for help and receive updated information for their computer. His job description states that he must communicate with our customers on a variety of topics. Good customer service is imperative. The concern is Jason may have a seizure while on the phone and the customer may not understand what has happened and be upset about getting poor service. Customer service is one of the core competencies of Acts business strategy. With the new M2020 and the upgrades made from the M2019 customers calling for support is now very high on the priority list for ACT. Based on a discussion with Raphael and the management team a decision was made to terminate Jason under reasonable notice and while he was on probation. The termination was carried out Tuesday November 19th, 2019 . Jason was paid two months salary including benefit coverage on a salary continuance basis. Sage believes Jason should have told the company when being interviewed that he suffered from epilepsy prior to being made the job offer. Management believes that his job required someone who could function at 100% in written and verbal skills as the job involves speaking directly to customers. The decision was made quickly once the information was shared with Jasons manager Sage and he was terminated the following day. Sage followed HRs guidance and said at the termination meeting; Jason effective today your job at Advanced Computer Technology will be terminated at 4:00 pm. he wished him well and left the meeting. Raphael walked through the termination package with Jason and he picked up his belongings, turned in his key and left without saying a word. Raphael believes that the company acted in good faith based on the severance paid. The real problem is that you didnt get involved in the process as you had critical objectives given to you by Fred from the strategy meeting. You expected Raphael to do the job properly. Raphael has excellent skills and you did walk through a termination process with him just a month ago as part of his training. You believe he had the knowledge to guide this termination to success. At this time you are not sure if everything that had to be covered in the termination was handled properly. You believe the termination is being carried out under the 3 month probation period. Even though the termination is within the probation period you realize that acting in good faith will be something Jasons lawyer will consider. 2 Under Human Rights legislation there are rules that must be met if someone is to be terminated. There are basic case law applications that are applied in situations where employees lose their jobs such as the 3 step Meiorin accommodation test to determine if an employee was terminated based on a BFOR and up to the point of undue hardship as determined by the company. In some cases an individual terminated within a probation period still has rights. The other reason Raphael is upset is that the wrongful dismissal letter has been sent to the CEO as well as you. Fred has called a meeting to get a better understanding of what transpired and what is the next step in answering Jasons lawyer. Fred believes that any bad press can be the downfall of a business regardless of how successful they have become. Bad press at this time could undermine all the hard work and success achieved over the past three year campaign. With the new M2020 being unveiled Monday January 27th, 2020 Fred doesnt want ACT to be on the front page of the Vancouver Sun or going viral on youtube with bad press. You have arranged a meeting with Fred. That means you have some time to prepare your overview of this situation, however, time is not on your side. The Marketing plan has been launched and the business is poised for an excellent sales year. Before you contact the company lawyer Fred wants to understand your approach to solving this problem. The Task You begin your review with your team and start to make notes. You believe these are some of the questions Fred will want answered . You must do more than answer these questions; there are other concerns that you need to search out and address. What was the reason for such a quick termination? Why?????????????? Was finance involved in this decision? What direction did HR provide in this process? Who approved the termination? What BFOR was compromised that resulted in termination? Did we follow proper procedure in this termination? How did we determine Undue Hardship in this case? How will we fix this situation and make sure the company doesnt get bad press? What will the company tell Jasons lawyer if anything? There are other concerns that I would expect you to uncover. Use your text to help with this case and read carefully to see if a process was in place. You have a deadline to meet and a presentation for Fred based on your schedule. Fred agreed to meet you as planned. Date for your report is in the syllabus. As a team you need to answer these questions and present your findings in a logical format with a defined outcome. You will have to be creative and I expect some interesting scenarios to be developed. I do expect to see a proper approach to solving this problem with current legal decisions that have been made over the past year or so. I would also expect to see some clarification on terms such as undue hardship and a legal description of the Meiorin principle in your answer.