You are the HR assistant at First Class Housekeeping, a company that hires housekeepers and sends them out to clients all over the Lower Mainland. First Class Housekeeping has a few employees who are hired as staff, but they mostly contract work out to independent contractors. In their capacity as an agent, First Class Housekeeping brings clients together with self-employed housekeepers.

Mary signed a one-year contract to provide housekeeping services for clients of First Class Housekeeping. The employment contract is compliant with the minimum standards set out in the Employment Standards Act. There are no non-competition clauses/restrictive covenants included in Marys contract. Mary is currently in the second month of her one-year contract with First Class Housekeeping and she is given a client called Florence. Florence is a long-time client and she has a reputation for being very demanding and hard on staff. She also has very conservative views and has asked First Class Housekeeping to send her only female housekeepers who are Christian because she says that she worries about hiring an honest housekeeper who will not steal from her.

Mary has her own cleaning company called Mary the Maid and she prefers to bill clients directly. The arrangement she has with First Class Housekeeping is that she submits timesheets for the work that is given to her by them and First Class Housekeeping pays her based on her hours worked. Mary has her own roster of clients as well and she always uses her own cleaning tools and supplies when she does a job.

First Class Housekeeping pays Mary just slightly above minimum wage; however, they offer her consistent work, let her work unsupervised, and have stated that benefits may be available after one-year of employment with them. When Mary bills clients directly, she charges $35 per hour, citing overhead costs for her own company. Mary likes the stability that First Class Housekeeping provides her as she finds it difficult to secure new clients owing to how competitive the self-employed cleaning business is in the Lower Mainland.

Mary has worked for Florence on a number of prior occasions and she likes working for her because she is a very wealthy person. In the past, Florence has given Mary substantial tips in the form of cash and gift cards. This week, Florence calls Mary directly to let her know that she is having an important dinner party for her husbands business partners. Mary tells Florence that she has been underpaid for her last few jobs that she has done for her and that her rate is actually $35. Mary also tells Florence that she will only work for this new rate. Florence becomes frantic because housekeepers are in short supply and she also knows that it is too late to secure a replacement chef for this weekends occasion. As a consequence, she irritably agrees to Marys demands that she pays the new rate of $35 per hour. In order to do this, however, Florence tells Mary that she must notify First Class Housekeeping about their arrangement and she asks that a contract be available for signature before the event; however, she also says that she is willing to be bound by a verbal agreement since they have discussed all of the terms. Florence tells Mary that she wants the job description stated specifically in the contract that is drafted by First Class Housekeeping and that it must stipulate that she will only hire a female who is Christian. Florence tells Mary that she will be responsible for catering a dinner for 20 guests on the Sunday of the coming weekend and that Florence will pay her for the costs of all the ingredients plus her new hourly rate of $35 per hour.

On the Saturday, a day before the dinner party, Mary spends all day preparing the food. On Saturday evening, she is ready to deliver the food to Florences mansion but Mary is unable to leave her house owing to a major storm that knocked out all of the towns electricity. On Sunday, the morning of the event, there was still no power anywhere and hurricane-like winds, along with pelting hail, prevented anyone from going anywhere. In fact, there was a news advisory telling people to stay at home.

Neither Mary nor the dinner guests made it to Florences place that Sunday evening. On Monday, Florence calls First Class Housekeeping and you answer the phone. Florence tells you everything that happened (all the above) and asks you to fire Mary.

AS THE HR ASSISTANT AT FIRST CLASS HOUSEKEEPING, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO PREPARE THE FOLLOWING (TO BE REVIEWED BY THE HR MANAGER):

1) A memo addressed to your HR Manager (your instructor) outlining your recommendations regarding what do to about this situation (include all legal references and cite your sources at the end, under References)