You Decide: Business Law
You Decide: Business Law
From this scenario, there are four main incidents which have been questioned. It must be determined what exactly the actions are, what are the specific issues with these incidents and what legal concepts must be applied to help make the decisions. From this each incident can be properly analysed and a decision, if possible, can be made on who is liable for the actions.
The first unlawful act is Coleman’s theft from the jewellery store; this is obviously against the law and is straightforward that Coleman is acting in a criminal manner. It is important to note that although Coleman was on a business trip, he was not required by his employer, Software Inc. to visit the mall where he committed the crime.
He was however, meeting with client, John, and talking about business while he was at Jimmy’s Poor-Man’s Bar. This is where Coleman was drinking alcohol and performed a “party trick” which went badly. The trick was intentional, but there was no intention of the outcome, which left Jimmy dead and substantial damage to the bar.
The result of this business trip was Coleman’s termination of employment by Software Inc. And although it states in their handbook that all employees should be interviewed before termination, Coleman was not.
The final incident was the follow up dinner which Coleman had with John, his client that he had met at Jimmy’s Poor-Man’s bar. It is important to note that firstly, John did not know of Coleman’s termination and that Coleman had indicated that Software Inc. would be paying for dinner, even though he had no authority to do so. The result of the dinner was a fight between the two, which Coleman caused severe eye damage to John.
The first question which has been asked is if Coleman has been wrongfully terminated by Software Inc. The issue here is, although Coleman acted in a way which may he may have deserved to lose his job, did Software Inc. breach their employment contract with him by not interviewing him before his termination.
It is clear that Software Inc. breached the contract by not interviewing Coleman before the termination of his employment, as laid out in the company’s handbook. Because of this you would imagine that Coleman would be able to ‘recover lost wages or salary as compensation’ . It is not that simple though, since Coleman’s actions may have breached the contract prior to Software Inc.’s actions. The decision of who would win the suit could not be made without a copy of the employment contract to see if Coleman breached the contract before Software Inc.
Secondly we have to look at each of the incidents which Software Inc. is being sued and determine