Disability, Work, and the Law in Organizations

(2500 words) (40%)
For this assignment, write and submit a report of approximately 2500 words based on the Penny scenario below. You can consult the Business Report Information page or a similar document to guide the format of your report. Be sure to include at least the following points in your report.
Provide a brief summary of the relevant facts.
Identify opportunities to intervene and prevent the situation from getting worse
Describe the policies that you would recommend to prevent this kind of situation from happening again
Make an argument based on your understanding of employment law as to why the employer should accommodate Penny
What should the employer learn from Sue’s behaviour?
Refer to at least two course readings or legal decisions to back up your opinions.
Penny
Penny is 45 and a single parent of a 10-year-old girl. She works as one of the frontline staff for a large, government-funded social services organization located in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver, British Columbia. Many of the organization's clients have backgrounds with mental illness, poverty and drug and alcohol addiction. The organization runs several community shelters at different locations and employs over 100 people as staff, counsellors, support workers and for a variety of specialized social services. The majority of its workers are unionized. Despite the size of the organization, it still feels like a very informal workplace. There are few written policies and procedures, and it still has the feel of a closely-knit community, where everyone is dedicated to improving the well-being of its clients’ lives.
In her job as Intake Support Worker, Penny is responsible for conducting initial client intakes. This involves an initial scheduled interview with a client looking for assistance, and involves an extensive two-hour meeting wherein Penny discusses the person's background history and individual needs, from which she inputs this information into a computer database that is then used for numerous other workers in the organization to coordinate. During an average day, Penny does two new interviews and inputs the data during the rest of her shift. Despite the intense nature of her work, Penny loves her job. She has good relationships with the other workers, and as she has worked for the organization for over 18 years, she feels like her colleagues are her second family. She had a particularly good relationship with her supervisor, Mary, who often let her leave early on days when she didn't have child care and was otherwise flexible with her as long as the work was getting done. She has never had any issues with her performance and has never received any discipline. While she appreciates her union, she has never been very involved in union business.
After some concerns are raised about some of the management’s use of funding, the Board of Directors implements significant changes to the administrative structure of the organization. Shortly after these changes are announced, Penny receives an email from the Executive Director announcing that as part of these changes, Mary will be leaving the organization. Penny is concerned about why her friend left so suddenly, and texts Mary but does not receive any reply. She is told her new supervisor will be Sue, who previously supervised Mary.
Penny and Sue have conflict from the start. During their first staff meeting together, Sue tells Penny that she thinks the organization needs to be more productive in how many clients it serves, as there has been criticism from the government about the number of services it is providing proportionate to its funding. She tells Penny that she expects all Intake Support Workers to do intake on at least three clients each shift. When Penny tells Sue that as some of these meetings go longer than two hours, it may be difficult to input all of the required data, Sue tells Penny that she sees no reason why anyone should take longer than eight hours to complete all this work if they are properly qualified and actually committed to getting the work done rather than checking Facebook all day. Sue’s tone when she communicates this to Penny makes Penny feel like she is being attacked.
Shortly after, Penny has an appointment with a client with a known history of significant mental illness. At first, the client appears to be stable, but halfway through their intake meeting, he suddenly becomes angry and starts yelling and swearing at Penny in a loud, aggressive voice. This scares Penny, and she stands up. When she does, the client suddenly lunges at her and pushes her very hard. Startled, she falls over and hits her head against a wooden desk and suffers a minor concussion. Others hear the incident and security are called, who escort the client away until police arrive.
Penny initially takes several weeks off work as she is experiencing concussion symptoms and a sore back from the fall. She files a claim for workers’ compensation benefits and receives these while she is unable to work. At first, Penny feels that she’s okay in terms of the trauma of the event, but as time goes on she starts to feel more and more anxiety and physiological symptoms if she even considers going back to work. Eventually, her doctor refers her to a psychologist, who diagnoses her with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He recommends that she stay off work for several more months in the hopes that with some further treatment, her PTSD symptoms can improve and she will be able to at least try to return to work on a gradual basis.
After being away for four months, Penny is finally able to return to work. At first, it is good to see her colleagues, who are very supportive. However, Sue seems concerned to see Penny, and says, "Oh, I didn't realize you were coming back," which surprises Penny. She is also upset to see that her old office cubicle has been cleared out and that she now has a cubicle in another, older part of the same building, where none of her friends work. One of her colleagues mentions that Sue had decided to have Penny moved to this location.
Later in the day, Sue calls Penny into a meeting and outlines her expectations with respect to client intake and the completion of additional new paperwork that she wants to be completed for all clients. She also mentions to Penny that she would also like to meet with Penny at some point in the future to discuss the proper procedures when conducting an intake meeting with a known mental illness. Her tone makes Penny feel that she is implying that the incident was Penny's fault, and this makes Penny feel even more stressed.
For the next few weeks of her graduated return to work, Penny feels herself being micromanaged more and more by Sue. Nothing she does seems to be acceptable for Sue, who criticizes all of her paperwork and seems to constantly be implying that Penny doesn't work hard enough. Despite saying "good morning" to Sue every day, Sue rarely even responds, and often just ignores Penny or speaks to her in a condescending tone. She is finding it harder and harder to do her job and still feels anxiety every time she sees a new client come into her office as she thinks about the assault. She begins to suffer from insomnia again and finds herself feeling sick at the thought of coming to work in the morning.
To make matters worse, Penny feels completely isolated in her new cubicle and finds that her asthma is worsening ever since she started working at the new location of her cubicle. After speaking to one of the other staff she learns that while she was away, one of the other workers who had previously worked in this cubicle raised concerns about mould in the walls of this room and had asked for the occupational health and safety agency to investigate. When Penny raises this issue with Sue, Sue just looks at her impatiently and says that she will look into it but that she is very busy.
One morning Penny comes to work to find several television news reporters filming a walkthrough tour by one of the provincial cabinet ministers who is there to announce some additional government funding as part of its mental health strategy. It is also a busy day at the organization in terms of client appointments. That morning sees a client who becomes agitated when Penny advises that she cannot provide him with emergency funding at an initial meeting. She starts shouting at Penny, who immediately runs away, leaving him alone in the intake room screaming obscenities while other clients are left to watch, in breach of the organization’s policies. Several of Penny’s co-workers are forced to come in to assist, and Sue is called in to investigate.
Once the situation is under control, Sue immediately comes over to Penny’s cubicle and demands to know what happened, and when Penny, upset, says that she does not want to talk about it, Sue proceeds to berate Penny for not following the proper protocol, telling her “I don’t know what is wrong with you” and “how could you be so stupid!” Penny is so upset she leaves the office and goes home. She sees her doctor, who advises the organization that she needs to take a medical leave. She submits the paperwork for a further workers’ compensation claim for mental stress arising out of the original incident and what she alleges is bullying and harassment from Sue. She then writes the Executive Director and makes a complaint against Sue for bullying and harassment.
Penny’s subsequent claim is rejected by WorkSafeBC on the basis that she does not meet the criteria. Although she applies for Employment Insurance Sickness benefits these only provide for approximately 55% of her income and after they end she has no other source of income. She sees her doctor, who advises that he thinks she could return to work provided that she has no direct client contact and that she is supervised by a different manager rather than Sue, as otherwise, in his view, her PTSD symptoms worsened. She provides this note to her Union and the Executive Director and asks both of them about the status of her bullying and harassment complaint. The Employer advises that they are still developing their Respectful Workplace Policy and that as she was off on her leave, they didn't think they needed to start any investigation yet.
After three weeks and not hearing back, Penny writes the Executive Director and her Union again. The Executive Director tells her that they are “looking into” her request, but that they don't believe her restrictions can be accommodated. Penny then writes them both and proposes that she return to work through a modified position in which she just does computer inputting of the intake questionnaires for the first while. She also suggests that she could be able to do some client intake through Skype from her home, as this will provide a more safe environment for her and allow her to transition back to work. She reminds the Executive Director that the organization routinely uses Skype and other electronic communications to communicate in other situations, such as an employee who was unable to work in the office due to a worsening of her multiple sclerosis symptoms.
Several more weeks go by. Penny keeps contacting her Union for information, only to be told that they are still waiting to hear back from the Employer. Finally, she receives a letter from the Employer, copied to the Union, advising that the Employer is not able to accommodate her restrictions, as it has a new policy about employees working from home, and that employees are required to conduct intake interviews in person. Furthermore, the Employer requests that she advise whether or not she wishes to make a formal complaint under the Organization’s Respectful Workplace Policy, that has just been introduced. It encloses a copy of the Policy, which defines “bullying and harassment” as “any inappropriate conduct or comment by a person towards a worker that the person knew or reasonably ought to have known would cause that worker to be humiliated or intimidated, but excludes any reasonable action taken by an employer or supervisor relating to the management and direction of workers or the place of employment."
Penny immediately files a grievance for a failure to accommodate her disability and completes a complaint and sends it in. After waiting for several more weeks, she writes her Union for an update. They advise that they are waiting for the Employer's availability for a Step 1 meeting concerning her grievance, and for the Employer to appoint an investigator for the bullying and harassment complaint. In speaking to her Union, her Labour Relations Officer mentions that Mary, Penny's former supervisor, had left after making complaints about how she was treated by Sue and that several workers have made complaints over the years about Sue. They also tell her that they will be bringing a policy grievance over the Employer's failure to do a proper risk assessment for workplace violence, and are calling for the employer to implement physical barriers between clients and intake officers for the initial intake meeting.
Penny feels that she cannot cope any longer. All she wants to do is return to her old job but she finds herself facing panic attacks at the thought of returning to work with Sue and having to face violent clients. She does not know what she can do. She has now been out of work for over five months, has depleted her savings, and is forced to borrow money from her parents to support her and her daughter. All of this stress has caused additional health problems, and her psychologist and doctor have advised that she look for another job.
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What is a formal report in business?
Professionals in many disciplines write reports as part of their work. A formal report typically presents an issue, actions taken or proposed (or methods used), outcomes or findings, analysis or discussion with alternatives or consequences, and actions or decisions to be made.
There is no one format or method that describes a formal report, but the following may help you in preparing one.
In business and professional writing, reports typically follow a common pattern:
- Front Material
- Main Body
- End Material
Depending on the complexity of the report, the Front Material may include the following:
- Cover page [Title, author, date (sometimes audience or purpose)]
- Abstract [sometimes, particularly if the report is for publication]
- Executive Summary [sometimes, particularly for longer reports]
- Table of contents [including list of tables and figures]
- [sometimes] Symbols and acronyms necessary to understand the report
The Main Body of your report contains the detail. It is important you know your audience for your report. In business, the immediate audience may be a supervisor or manager but the report may be read and used by a decision-maker at a higher level in the organization or distant from the operation, section or topic of your report. The more distant the audience is from where you are, the more important it is for your report to “stand on its own”, that is, contain enough information for the reader to understand why you are writing the report, the issues and/or methods you used, and the findings or conclusions you reached.
Most reports contain the following in their main body:
- An introduction
- Background or Context [if about a case, a description]
- Methods or Procedures
- Analysis, results, or discussion
- Conclusions [with recommendations, where appropriate]
Headings and subheadings help organize your report into a logical order and guide the reader through your report. The words you use in your headings should be descriptive of the part they introduce and often help keep your narrative focused. If what you write in a section doesn’t match the topic you have assigned, either you are off topic or your heading needs to be revised.
The body of your report will be in narrative style. Short lists, tables and figures may be included but your report is literally a formal telling of a particular, unique story. As such, it should be your words. Where others are quoted or other works are used to support what you did (your methods) or where you got your data [your sources], and other aspects of what you are saying, these should be identified in the text and in the section on references or bibliography.
The End Material of a report typically contains the following:
- Bibliography or References (almost always)
- Appendices or Exhibits (sometimes)
Some organizations have a preferred style for citations. Many training institutions use the American Psychological Association (APA) style. Regardless of the style, it needs to contain sufficient information for the reader to find the document or resource and what you quoted or cited in your text.