Question

The primary asset of Greene's Jewelry is its patented process for creating a synthetic gold-colored material called "Ever-Gold," which is used in Greene's necklaces, rings, earrings, and bracelets. Ever-Gold is impervious to scratches, discoloration, oxidization, and is marketed as "everlasting gold." Jennifer Lawson, who has been employed for three years as a junior executive secretary in the research and development department at Greene's Jewelry, has just learned that she is pregnant. She has earned high marks on each of her annual reviews with the company, with the exception of the fact that she routinely shows up 15 to 30 minutes late for work. Otherwise, she is deemed to be professional, articulate, diligent, and skilled in her role with the company. When Lawson advises the head of human resources, Lisa Peele, that she may have to take additional time off as a result of some high-risk factors that she will face during the course of her pregnancy, she is told that her position has been eliminated. The specific words are: "Congratulations Jennifer! That is exciting news for you. We do not need to worry about time off, though, because, regrettably, I was just going to let you know that we are downsizing and no longer have a need for any of our junior executive secretaries." Jennifer is distraught, and immediately returns to her desk to clear it out as instructed. She removes all of her personal items, as well as the projects she was working on prior to her discussion with Lisa Peele. When she returns to her home, she realizes that she has inadvertently taken a draft letter to Greene's patent attorney, which details the secret process for creating Ever-Gold. Although Greene's Jewelry requires all of its executives to sign covenants not to compete and confidentiality agreements, Jennifer was only required to sign a confidentiality agreement, by which she agreed never to disclose any information that she might acquire from Greene's regarding the process used to create Ever-Gold. Panicked, and knowing that she needs a job, she calls one of Greene's competitors, Howell Jewelry World, and advises its hiring manager that she is a former employee of Greene's, that she needs a job, and that she has confidential information about Ever-Gold that would help Howell compete with Greene's. The hiring manager at Howell, Naomi White, schedules an interview with Jennifer for the following day. At the end of the interview, Naomi makes an offer to Jennifer to begin work with Howell immediately, but she conditions the offer on Jennifer's execution of an employment contract. The contract contains two specific provisions that Naomi insists Jennifer read and initial, in addition to signing the contract as a whole. One of those provisions states that Jennifer will disclose the information she has regarding the Ever-Gold process prior to commencing work with Howell. The other provision is a covenant to not work for any competitor of Howell for two years after she leaves the employ of Howell, irrespective of the reason for leaving, and whether she quits or is fired. Jennifer initials both of the provisions, signs the contract for employment, and gives Naomi a copy of the letter that she removed from her desk at Greene's. One week after she starts working with Howell, Jennifer is fired for chronic tardiness, and she thereafter gets a job working as a sales associate with the only other jewelry company in town, Triumph Jewels. Meanwhile, Greene's learns that Howell has acquired knowledge of the secret process used to create Ever-Gold, and that Howell has tweaked the process slightly so as to avoid any patent infringement issues but to still create a product with similar characteristics and qualities of Ever-Gold. Howell, for its part, has learned that Jennifer is working for a competitor and fears that Jennifer will disclose the process to Triumph. Finally, one of Howell's customers had developed a disfiguring rash as a direct result of the new process Howell has begun using in its jewelry. Greene's sues Jennifer for breach of the confidentiality agreement when it learns that she has given confidential information to Howell. Jennifer counter-sues Greene's for wrongful termination. Howell sues Jennifer for breach of the covenant not to compete, and Jennifer counter-sues for fraudulent inducement, believing that she was tricked into signing the employment contract with Howell and that Howell was never interested in hiring her, but was interested only in acquiring information on the process to create Ever-Gold. Howell also sues Triumph, claiming that it knew or should have known that Jennifer was subject to a covenant not to compete, and that Triumph should therefore be bound by its provisions. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: I. Memo Introduction: Articulate what you feel are the strengths of your company’s legal claim or defense. II. Client’s Case A. Facts and Laws 1. Analyze the facts related to employment discrimination or unlawful termination based on your company’s perspective. 2. Analyze the facts related to contract issues based on your company’s perspective. 3. Identify the operative employment and contract laws that apply to your company’s case. B. Precedent 1. Select cases that support your company’s position in terms of employment discrimination or unlawful termination. Justify why they support its case. 2. Select cases that support your company’s position in terms of contract disputes. Justify why they support its case. C. Facts to be Determined 1. Determine any facts that will help you better analyze your company’s position. In other words, what questions do you need answered before you can proceed? 2. Explain how the identified facts will help establish the legal rights and/or obligations of the defendant in relation to your company. In other words, how would those facts reflect on the propriety and legality of the decisions that were made?

Answer 1

I.The strength of the company’s legal claim and defences is the ethical way of doing business with any other. The ethics should lead to the following of the correct procedures. Here in the case, the company has fired the employee without any reason and other company has hired the employee as get to know that the what the other company is using for their growth. After getting the information again employee has been fired.

The strengths of my company’s legal claim or Défense are as follows:

Greene Company:

1. The confidential information has been leaked by the employee Jennifer Lawson.

Howell Company:

1. The employee Jennifer Lawson has signed the contract that she will not work for two years after getting fired by the company, irrespective of any reasons either fired from job or she quits.
2. The Défense for the fired of the Jennifer Lawson was the chronic tardiness.
3. It knew or should have known that Jennifer was subject to a covenant not to compete, so the triumph should not hire the covenant employee.

II.Client’s Case

A. Facts and Laws

1. The facts related to employment discrimination or unlawful termination based on my company’s perspective

Howell Company:

The worker Jennifer Lawson was not on time to the work. She was unable to perform in the job if she is doing so continuously. She is suffering from chronic tardiness.

Greene Company:

She was pregnant and in future may be frequently getting late to the work. It would affect the company efficiency.

2. The contract was signed with employee that she may not reveal any information regarding the company workings. This was because the information is confidential and would be misused against the company itself if gained by the competitor of the business. The contract was given in prior to the employee when she was getting hired. It was clearly stated the situation before the employee.

3.Identify the operative employment and contract laws that apply to my company’s case are as follows:

• Confidentiality of the information of the company.
• Breach of Covenant between Employer and Employee.
• Background Check before hire.

B. Precedent

1. The company has created the job positions as per the workings. The company has authority to either made alterations to those profiles time to time. The employee is working with the company should follow the company’s code of conduct of the company. The is liable to do so. The employee according to the performance has been hired or fired. The position of the employee was operative. It depends upon the project basis. So, if the company required the profile then they create it otherwise remove it.

2. The cases that support my company’s position in terms of contract disputes are as the breach of the contract by the employee. The employee is liable to follow the contract as the company has many competitors in the market. The company has created an image that they are the plays in the market and can compete with other revel company. So, If the information of the project has been misused or leaked by the employee of the company the company may lose its worth in the market and my not compete as they are. So, in order to secure this the company has signed the covenant from the employee that she is not work for two years after being fired by any reason.

C. Facts to be Determined

1. Before proceeding the employer should know thoroughly the details of the employee so that If any miss happening occurred on later stages then it may be resolved soon. The detailed background check of the employee is very much important which avoided by the employer.

2.The identification facts has the valid proofs. The facts are on the basis of the contract which has been signed by the employee and the employer by mutual understanding. These facts connect the step by step the actions happened and the reason for each happening. The code of conducts is given prior to the employee before hiring. The company has certain rules to follow so if any employee breaks those rules he/ she may be liable to pay for it.