A large company is planning to downsize. A consultant suggests the following: 1. It makes sense to focus on one of your unionized plants. We suggest that you reduce the 300 employees at that plant to 100.

IN YOUR OWN WORDS, fully discuss the questions below. (IMPORTANT NOTE: THE DICTIONARY DEFINES THE
TERM "DISCUSS" AS: to consider or examine by argument, comment, etc.; talk over or write about, especially to
explore solutions; debate) These are individual questions and you should not be writing an essay for this assignment.
For question 1 you will need to review each statement presented by the consultant and determine if it is reliable advice
and fully support your response. Questions 2 and 3 will require approximately 250 words to sufficiently answer the
question. This is a major assignment for this unit and I expect well-thought-out answers to the questions. Your answer
should be written to provide adequate information on the subject to individuals who do not know the subject matter.
1. A large company is planning to downsize. A consultant suggests the following:
1. It makes sense to focus on one of your unionized plants. We suggest that you reduce the 300 employees at that
plant to 100. Some of the components that you produce at that plant can be made at your non-union South
Carolina plant.
2. Since you will be terminating 200 employees, I suggest that you terminate 50 employees per week. This way, you
won't have to worry about any legal requirements for providing notice.
3. If you want to be safe, you can send a letter to employees the week before you begin the first wave of terminations
telling them that the long-term prospects for the plant are not good.
4. Let the supervisors use their best judgment about who should be retained. They know best.
5. Consider offering an early retirement plan to generate some voluntary turnover, but don't get people's hopes up by
announcing it before all the details are in place.
6. If you offer an early retirement plan, require that all employees who accept it waive their ADEA rights.
7. Taking early retirement is an important decision, so give employees two weeks to think over the offer.
What are the legal problems with the consultant's advice? What would be better advice?
2. What are some feasible alternatives to downsizing? If downsizing must occur, what criteria should be used to select
those individuals who will be downsized?
3. Does the employment at will with exception standard provide sufficient protection for employees? Would it be better
if all employers were required to meet a just cause/due process standard for termination? Why or why not?
Grading Criteria
• If you have any questions e-mail me ASAP. It is wise not to wait until the deadline and depend on an immediate
email response.
• Cut/paste or copying directly from the text or any other source is not acceptable and will be regarded as plagiarism
resulting in a grading penalty based on the severity of the circumstances.
• Use one-inch margins
• Use a 12-point Times New Roman or Courier font
• Use double line spacing in the document