Workplace justice : an examination of employee dismissal in the views of the courts and human resource practitioners

Abstract

My objective in this research is to better understand the nature of employment relationships by examining violations of expectations and obligations by the employee and employer as evidenced by the dismissal of allegedly poorly performing employees. While the centerpiece of this work, the common law of wrongful dismissal, is a unique Canadian phenomenon, its relevance to theory and practice is enhanced by framing the study of the employment relationship within the broader discourse of justice and fairness. I begin by reviewing the theory and process of the law of wrongful dismissal in Canada. I then provide an overview of the literature with respect to the intersection of the psychological contract, organizational justice, and employee dismissal, as well as a review of the empirical study of employee dismissal. In addition, I embed the views of the Supreme Court of Canada with respect to the nature of the employment relationship, and the inequality of bargaining power and employee vulnerability in an analysis of divergent views of workplace justice.

In the first of three studies, I content analyse Canadian wrongful dismissal cases selected because they deal with an employer alleging employee incompetence or poor performance. The data from the analysis is quantitatively examined to establish the determinants of case outcome (was the dismissed employee successful) and reasonable notice period that is awarded. I found that an employee victory is associated with several factors related to the performance management of an employee, to the unequal bargaining relationship in non-union employment contracts, to an employee's vulnerability, and to the Wallace v. United Grain Growers (1997) decision. However, only two of these factors are related to the length of reasonable notice period.

In the second study, I surveyed human resource (HR) practitioners with an instrument constructed from items identified in the content analysis of the court cases in order to examine the determinants of perceived just cause and notice provided in workplace dismissals. I found that a much smaller set of determinants were associated with perceived just cause and reasonable notice period than were found in my examination of wrongful dismissal cases.

In my final study, HR practitioners responded to a simulated dismissal based on the Wallace (1997) court case, a recent influential decision that has not been examined empirically to date. I found that there were significant differences in HR practitioners' perception of the legal basis of the employment contract compared to their psychological contract.

Finally, I contrasted the courts' views with the perceptions and experience of HR practitioners. I found that the treatment of dismissed employees in the workplace understates the relevant factors considered important in both the law and in several views of workplace justice. Furthermore, I concluded that if HR practitioners are to achieve a better balance of employee and employer interests, management and organization scholars must be more prepared to examine a broad range of employee, employer, and social outcomes within a legal, justice, and organizational framework.

I also argued that the Court's views in Wallace (1997), as well as the structure of the lower courts' decisions, are consistent with both an instrumental conceptualization of justice and a power and dependence model of employment relationships. I concluded that a more inclusive depiction of justice in the workplace must incorporate both the instrumental needs of the employee and employer as well as the inequality of power and dependence that is innate to the employment relationship, and is the context in which management decisions are made. References