Forteza Week 7 Assignment: Union Agreement Excerpt
Global Power Tools has agreed, in signed documents, to foster a safe, healthy, and
respectful work environment. Even if this was not included in the Union agreement, there are
several US laws that could apply here to protect Mary Jo such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
or the Americans with Disability Act. Mary Jo’s mental health could put her under the protection
of one or both of these laws, making Jane’s actions even more detrimental to not just herself but
to Global Power Tools as well.
Based on just the Union agreement, Jane is in clear violation of a few of the points
spelled out in this document. First of all, she is not treating Mary Jo with courtesy, dignity, and
respect by talking about her personal issues with other employees and spreading rumors about
her mental health state. In that sense, she is also not controlling her behavior and abiding by the
standards of conduct. The actions taken by Jane are most definitely not making Mary Jo feel like
she has a healthy and safe work environment.
A very large clause that is not being followed by Jane is that information shared by an
employee in confidence must not be shared or discussed with others unless the employee agrees
that is fine, which Mary Jo clearly has not agreed to. As a supervisor, Jane should refrain from
discussing others, which is clearly not happening. The clause goes on to specify that comments
concerning an employee’s mental health should not be discussed unless there is a legitimate
business need. This could even be seen as retaliation to Mary Jo’s report of struggling with
mental health.
Mary Jo went to Jane asking for help with a problem she was having which is a mature
and reasonable thing to do with a supervisor versus just attempting to cover up the problem or
power through. Mary Jo even came to her supervisor with a reasonable solution, preventing Jane
from having to scramble to try to figure out a way to accommodate Mary Jo without any input
from her. The trust that Mary Jo put in to Jane to keep her personal information confidential has
been severely violated now that she heard Jane talking to Henry about her personal issues. Jane
is out of line in discussing Mary Jo’s request with Mary Jo’s peers. Jane may have had a leg to
stand on if she was discussing the issues professionally with one of her peers or with her own
supervisor as she tried to work out a way to accommodate Mary Jo’s request, or even if she was
talking with Henry about picking up some extra shifts or moving his work schedule around for
Mary Jo. Instead, she is caught venting and revealing personal information to a person without a
need-to-know status, thus compromising Mary Jo’s privacy and violating a litany of rules and
regulations Jane agreed to uphold when taking her job as a supervisor. Her actions are
unacceptable and she should be punished and reprimanded for them.