Answer to Question #217370 in Management for pink

Question

John works as an analyst for ECH holdings. One morning he is asked by his manager to deliver a parcel to a client in town using the company car. While on route, John is involved in an accident and the company car is damaged in the process. As per the correct procedure, John logs an incident report, but a few days later he is surprised to receive a lawyer's letter from ECH, claiming that he was using the car for his own personal reasons and suing John for the cost of the damages to the vehicle.

John argues that he was merely following orders from his manager and that the accident was not his fault. ECH does not accept John’s claim and proceeds with issuing him two letters. First, a letter of demand to cover the costs incurred of the damaged car and second, a letter of dismissal.

Discuss the concepts of substantive and procedural fairness in relation to this example above. 

Answer 1

Substantive fairness

This is when the employer dismisses an employee with a valid reason. The employer may be ordered to reinstate the employee to his position if he/she was dismissed with an automatically unfair reason. This lacks in John’s case because he is issued with a dismissal letter after the incident, even without finding out how the accident occurred.

Procedural fairness

This is being fair in the procedures that are taken in order to arrive at an administrative decision. When this has not been applied, an individual can appeal for fairness and get a decision overturned on that basis. John was issued with a letter of dismissal as well as a letter of demand to cover the costs incurred on the car. The company did not follow the right procedures and only used their lawyer to make those decisions.