Employment Law

BUAD 374 Employment Law – Fall 2019

Assignment #1:

This assignment will be marked out of 10. It is due to be submitted to

Turnitin on Friday, October 4, 2019.

You are the human resources manager for a large, for profit, seniors' care

facility in Kelowna called The No Place Like Home Home (the "Home").

The facility provides assisted living support services for mentally competent

seniors who are disabled, but do not require full-time institutionalized care.

The services provided include assistance with dressing and bathing, as well

as transportation to activities around the town, and meals.

You have the need to add a caregiver to provide the facility's services to its

residents. You place an ad on Castanet. A young woman who identifies

herself as Virginia Veggieluver answers the ad.

You interview Virginia. She seems to have all the necessary credentials to

perform the work that would be required of her at the Home. You tell her

that the Home would like to hire her. You then inform her that since many

of the residents in the Home are frail, with compromised immune systems, it

is the policy of the Home that all employees must provide proof they have

received a series of current vaccinations protecting them from contracting,

and then spreading, certain contagious diseases or conditions, including

influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, the various hepatitis strains, tetanus,

diptheria, whooping cough, polio, malaria and the ebola virus. The concern

you express is that some residents might become quite ill from a contact

with any of these bacterial or viral agents, and some might even die.

When you tell Virginia that she needs to be vaccinated, she explains that she

wants the job, but she cannot comply. She says that she is a vegan, and

since vaccines are regularly derived from, or incubated in, animal products,

she would violate her strict diet if she were to receive the shots. She also

tells you that her veganism is a moral and ethical belief that she holds with

the same strength and sincerity as anyone else's religious views.

You tell Virginia that you will let her know whether she will be hired.

2

You need to make a recommendation about Virginia to your boss, the owner

of the Home. Her name is Noreen Nononsense, and you believe she will tell

you that the Home does not have a place for Virginia if she cannot provide

proof she has received the requisite vaccinations.

Prepare an opinion letter for Noreen. It should be 5-6 pages long, inclusive

of any cover page, using 12 point type, and 1.5 line spacing. It should also

include references to, and a discussion of, at least five legal authorities, apart

from your textbook, that would be applicable to the issues raised in this case.

At least three of those authorities must be judgments of courts or tribunals

that would be binding in British Columbia.

The letter should be in the form that you would deliver to a boss if you were

sitting in your shoes in this real world example. It should be a professional

piece of work. You will know, for example, that if there is litigation

resulting from your hiring decision relating to Virginia, your letter may be

disclosed to her, and to the decision-maker adjudicating the matter, during

the course of those proceedings.

You will need to identify the specific legal issues that Noreen needs to

address in her hiring decision regarding Virginia, as well as the legal tests

that courts and tribunals will apply in British Columbia in order to resolve

them.

You will also need to set out a plan of action for Noreen in order for her to

meet her legal obligations in this case. That plan of action must discuss in

detail the legal issues, and the legal tests that are applicable to the situation

presented. You will also need to communicate precise recommendations to

Noreen, and give convincing reasons for them, having regard to the relevant

legal principles.

Please submit your assignment to Turnitin by midnight on October 4,

2019. Instructions for uploading your assignment (as a Word document

only, not a PDF) have been posted in the Moodle shell for this course.

Please note that I will deduct one full mark from the final grade for this

assignment for every day the assignment is submitted late.

Please note further that all students must prepare and submit this

assignment in order to pass the course.