Competency Assessment for Agency and Employee Relationship
Introduction
CARDWARE Inc. has been working towards expanding its business to meet new customer needs. Of late, CARDWARE Inc. has opened ten new stores nationwide referred to as “The Sporty One.” For each location, CARDWARE has approved the general manager, an assistant manager, and salesperson positions. “You don’t have to be an athlete to look and feel like one” is the new slogan currently been used to sell athletic gear by the new stores. The Sporty One has presently a clothing distribution of 60% female and 40% male. When commencing the new business, CARDWARE advertised for a position of a salesperson who is youthful, energetic, and experienced in marketing and retail activities. The Sporty One business is an Equal Opportunity Employer that is a division of the CARDWARE Inc.
After the advertisement of the salesperson position, several applications were received, and two potential recruits were interviewed. Petunia Rotunda was the first applicant who was middle-aged with a five-year experience in marketing activities. The second applicant has just graduated from the college with a degree in marketing, and his name was Noah Dahl. Noah Dahl was a player, and he only had customer service experience for he had never practiced marketing.
CARDWARE employed Noah Dahl as the salesperson, and the first applicant was not considered for the position. The first applicant, Petunia Rotunda, was much annoyed by the decision, and she claimed that she had been discriminated because of her age. However, CARDWARE Inc. claimed that Noah Dahl was more qualified than Rotunda, and he met all the minimum requirements of the company.
Noah started working for the company as the salesperson one week after the interview. Rotunda decided to visit the Sporty One, and because of her annoyance, she began to harass Noah in the presence of the customers causing the customers to walk out of the store. After a short duration, Noah was overwhelmed by anger because of the insults he received from Rotunda. Out of anger, Noah shoved Rotunda towards the door, and unfortunately, 92-year-old Hetty Whitestone who was passing by the store, was knocked by the stumbling Rotunda. As a result, Hetty suffered a concussion and passed away after some time.
Discussion
Part 1:
Did CARDWARE have genuine BFOQs (Bona Fide Occupational Job Qualifications) in its ad?
Bona Fide Occupational Job Qualifications are those qualifications required for workers to be employed in a particular organization. Bona Fide Occupational Job Qualifications should possess identifiable characteristics such as gender, nationality, and religion. However, the Bona Fide Occupational Job Qualifications do not allow consideration of the race of any applicant (Miller, 2013). According to the ad by CARDWARE, the Bona Fide Occupational Job Qualifications do not meet all the legal qualifications because marketing duties can be carried out by anyone who is not necessarily an athlete in regardless of the age (US DOL, n.d.). Rotunda is encouraged by the slogan of the company that goes, “You don’t have to be an athlete to look and feel like one” to feel that she is the right person for the job. Rotunda is convinced that she was discriminated because of her age, but she lacks the legal proof to claim that she was not considered for the position because of her age (Miller, 2013).
Noah is a college graduate with a degree in marketing that makes him be advantaged over Petunia. Also, Noah is a male model who is also an athlete, and with time, he can gain enough experience in retail activities. Therefore, due to these reasons, Noah was more qualified for the job as compared to Rotunda. CARDWARE company had in mind that by employing Noah, who is a young male model the company will have a brighter future for the company distributes 50% of their products to men (USDO, n.d.). As a result, Rotunda cannot legally justify that age was the factor used by the company to disqualify her from the job.
Part 2:
If Petunia brings a lawsuit based on negligence against CARDWARE and The Sporty One, will CARDWARE be responsible for Noah’s behavior? If so, under what theory?
Noah acquired an agency status after he was hired by the company to serve as the salesperson. In the absence of the store’s owner, Noah acts at the capacity of the owner of the store because of the agency status. Because of the agency status, CARDWARE is responsible for both the right actions and wrong actions done by Noah (Harshmall, 2017). The agency status means that the master is responsible for all the actions of the employee; therefore, CARDWARE is responsible for Noah’s behavior towards Rotunda (Miller, 2013). When Noah shoved Rotunda, he had the company in his heart because he wanted to remove disturbance from the company premises. Although Noah acted recklessly by pushing Rotunda, she was functioning at the capacity of the stores’ owner, and therefore CARDWARE will be responsible for Noah’s actions of intentional tort.
What defenses might CARDWARE assert and utilize?
CARDWARE could assert and utilize the defenses of reasonable man theory, scope, and comparative negligence for the lawsuit. To determine the liability that CARDWARE is responsible of, the company could assert a reasonable man theory. With this particular theory, the court will have to use a hypothetical person in the same situation to determine if Noah acted with negligence (US Legal, n.d.). CARDWARE Inc. would as assert and utilize that Noah was acting outside the scope of his duties and powers by shoving Rotunda, which would separate CARDWARE Inc. from the lawsuit (Cambridge, n.d.). Also, CARDWARE could assert comparative negligence. The comparative negligence rule is used to allocate charges when the both parties involved are at fault (Hashmall, 2015).
If Hetty Whitestone’s estate claims that CARDWARE should be responsible for Hetty’s death, will it?
CARDWARE Inc. would be partially responsible for the death of Hetty according to the already discussed facts. Hetty was walking within the entrance of the store when Rotunda knocked him. Rotunda had been shoved by Noah outside the store because Noah wanted to remove disturbance from the store premises. Since Noah was acting at the capacity of the stores’ owner while shoving Rotunda from the premises, CARDWARE Inc. will be partially responsible for Hetty’s death (Miller, 2013).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ad provided by CARDWARE Inc. did not meet all the legal requirements for Bona Fide Occupational Job Qualifications. However, Rotunda will not be at the capacity to legally prove that she was discriminated because of her old age. Both Noah and Rotunda met the requirements of a salesperson, but Noah was more suitable for the future of the company. CARDWARE Inc. will assert and utilize the defenses of reasonable man theory, scope, and comparative negligence for the lawsuit. Due to respondeat superior CARDWARE Inc. will be partially responsible for the death of Hetty.
References
Cambridge (n.d.). Scope. Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/scope
Hashmall, J. (2015). Comparative Negligence. Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/comparative_negligence
Hashmall, J (2017). Respondeat Superior. Cornell Law School. Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/respondeat_superior
Miller, R. (2013) Fundamentals of Business Law: Summarized Cases Ninth Edition. South-Western Cengage Learning: Mason, OH. Retrieved from https://purdueuniversityglobal.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781305482920/cfi/6/2!/4/10/82@0:0
US DOL (n.d.). What do I need to know about … Age Discrimination. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/2011-age-discrimination.htm
US Legal, Inc. (n.d.). Reasonable Man Theory Law and Legal Definition. Retrieved from https://definitions.uslegal.com/r/reasonable-man-theory/