business law

MBA 610 Final Project Part I , Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric Overview: For F inal Project Part I of this course , you will creat e a memorandum. In Milestone One , submit your Memo Introduction , Facts and Laws , Precedent , and Facts to b e Determined sections (Sections I, IIA and IIB, and IIC) of the memorandum. Prompt: In the Memo Introduction section , articulate what you feel are the strengths of your company ’s legal claim or defense. In the Facts and Laws section, analyze the facts related to employment discrimination or unlawful termination based on your company ’s perspective. In the Precedent section, select cases that support your company ’s position in terms of employment discrimination or unlawful termination. Justify why they support its c ase. In the Facts to be Determined section, determine any facts that will help you better analyze your company ’s position. Make sure to incorporate the feedback you receive on this assignment into your final submission. You are an intern at the legal depa rtment at one of the companies in the following scenario (Greene or Howell) and tasked with compiling a memo for your supervisor, which will be used to formulate an official executive brief of these lawsuits. Scenario Mary Jane and Allen Greene, a marrie d couple, own a high -end costume jewelry manufacturing and dis tribution company called Greene’ s Jewelry Wholesale, LLC. The princip al place of business for Greene’ s Jewelry is in Derry, New Hampshire, where it owns a warehouse and two storefronts. Original ly started in 1957, the company has expanded over five decades, and it now employs 502 individuals in a variety of departments, including sales and marketing, re search and development, human resources, and manufacturing. The primary asset of Greene’ s Jewe lry is its process for creating a syntheti c gold -colored material called “Ever -Gold,” which is used in Greene ’s necklaces, rings, earrings, and bracelets. Ever -Gold is impervious to scratches, discoloration, and oxidization and is marketed as “everlasting gold. ” Greene ’s maintains this process as a trade secret. Jennifer Lawson, who has been employed for three years as a junior executive secretary in the research and development depart ment 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 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. W hen 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 sp ecific 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 hav e a need for any of our junior execu tive secretaries. ” Jennifer is distraught and immediately returns to her desk to clear it out as instructed. She re moves 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 intellectual property attorney that 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 knowi ng 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 th e 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 disclos e 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, irrespe ctive of the reason for l eaving 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 p rocess used to create Eve r-Gold and that Howell has tweaked the process slightly to create a product with similar characteristics and qualities to Ever -Gold. Howell, for its part, has learned that Jennifer is working for a competitor and fears that Jennifer will disclose the proce ss 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 sign ing 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 Jenni fer was subje ct 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 le gal 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. Ide ntify 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 B e Determined 1. Determine any facts that will help you better analyze your company ’s position. In other words, what questions do you need answere d 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 t hat were made? Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your memorandum should be 4–5 pages, using 12 -point Times New Roman font and one -inch margins . You should use current APA - style guidelines for your citations and reference list. Generally speaking, the best memos include references to at least two cases for each point of law that is mentioned. Students also earn high marks when they cite cases that appear to support a different legal resolution than the on e presented by the student, and then distinguish that case from the scenario described in this assignment. Such distinctions demonstrate exemplary understanding of the course materials . Instructor Feedback : This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information, review these instructions . Critical Elements Proficient (100 %) Needs Improvement (75% ) No t Evident (0% ) Value Memo Introduction Articulates the strengths of company ’s legal claim or defense Articulates the strengths of company ’s legal claim or defense, but with gaps in accuracy or detail Does not articulate the strengths of company ’s legal claim or defense 6 Facts and Laws: Unlawful Termination Analyzes facts related to employment discrimination or unlawful termination based on company ’s perspective Analyzes facts related to employment discrimination or unlawful termination based on company ’s perspective, but with gaps in accuracy or detail Does not analyze facts related to employment discrimination or unlawful termination based on company ’s perspective 12 Facts and Laws:

Contract Issues Analyzes facts related to contract issues based on company ’s perspective Analyzes facts related to contract issues based on company ’s perspective, but with gaps in accuracy or detail Does not analyze facts related to contract issues based on company ’s perspective 12 Facts and Laws: Laws Identifies operative employment and contract laws that apply to company ’s case Identifies operative employment and contract laws that apply to company ’s case, but one or more operative laws are missing or there are inaccuracies Does not identify operative employment and contract laws that apply to company ’s case 12 Precedent:

Unlawful Termination Selects cases that support company ’s position in terms of employment discrimination or unlawful termination, logically justifying selections Selects cases that support company ’s position in terms of employment discrimination or unlawful termination, justifying selections, but case(s) are inappropriate for supporting case or justification has gaps in logic or detail Does not select cases that support company ’s position in terms of employment discrimi nation or unlawful termination 12 Precedent: Contract Disputes Selects cases that support company ’s position in terms of contract disputes, logically justifying selections Selects cases that support company ’s position in terms of contract disputes, justifying selections, but case(s) are inappropriate for supporting case or justification has gaps in logic or detail Does not select cases that support company ’s position in terms of contract disputes 12 Facts to be Determined: Fac ts Determines facts needed for better analyzing company ’s position Determines facts needed for better analyzing company ’s position, but with gaps in logic or detail Does not determine facts needed for better analyzing company ’s position 12 Facts to B e Determined:

Establish Explains how identified facts will help establish the legal rights and/or obligations of defendant in relation to company Explains how identified facts will help establish the legal rights and/or obligations of defendant in relation t o company, but with gaps in logic or detail Does not explain how identified facts will help establish the legal rights and/or obligations of defendant in relation to company 12 Articulation of Response Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, g rammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 10 Total 100%