Question

After finishing university, Mariette is looking for a job. She checks for job advertisements on several large, well‐known, and reputable online sources, and pursues a few lesser‐known sources on the recommendation of several of her former professors. After submitting what seemed like endless resumes, Mariette received several interview offers, one of which was particularly appealing to her, since it was for an entry‐level position in a company she had always wanted to work for. The interview process went well, and she received several job offers, including one from the company she wanted to work for. During that interview, Mariette was promised that the job would involve a lot of independent work and responsibility for projects after an initial training period of three months. This statement, combined with the fact that she had wanted to work for the company for a long time, led Mariette to accept the job offer. Once she had signed the employment contract and had begun work, she went through the initial training period, but her responsibilities didn’t change, and she began to find her work limiting. She also began to notice that some of the employees at her level who had started around the same time she had started were being promoted ahead of her. Several were not as qualified as Mariette. She noticed that all of the employees receiving promotions were men. While this was occurring, the office support staff, all of whom were unionized, were trying to renegotiate their contract. The bargaining went badly, and there was a short strike lasting three days. The situation was resolved, but things were tense for a little while, especially since the support staff had been picketing directly outside of the entrance to the office. By this time, Mariette had worked for her company for a little over two years. One day, she was called into her supervisor’s office and was told she was being let go. She was also told that this was effective as of the end of the work day on that day. No cause was given. Mariette was very surprised, and angry. After discovering that she would get no further pay after the day of her termination, Mariette decided to take legal action.

Analyze the situation and advise Mariette on how she should proceed?

Answer 1

The first thing person M should do is consult an attorney who is experienced in dealing with cases involving discrimination.

Once she is in touch with said attorney, she should her legal team each and every aspect of her job in the past two years.

She should begin by explaining how the interview process went well with this company and despite having several offers from other companies, she decided to join this company. One of the main reasons that motivated her to join this company was that she was promised that the job would involve a lot of independent work and responsibility for projects once the training period of 3 months got over.

However, once her training period got over, she noticed that her responsibilities and work profile did not change any bit. Moreover, she still did not have any independence in her work. Further, she noticed that male employees who were less qualified than her and had been with the company for same tenure as her, were being promoted and given more responsibilities.

At the same time, some of the office support staff(unionized) were renegotiating their contracts with the management which also led to a 3-day strike. One fine day, she was called by her supervisor and informed that she was being let go without any particular reason despite working with the company for over two years. She was not even given the opportunity to serve a notice period during which she could look for another job. To worsen the situation, she was not being given any severance package

Person M should sue the company for Wrongful dismissal as well as Workplace discrimination based on gender.