Case law: Learning tools for organizations

Abstract

Purpose

In this paper, we examine the use of court cases as learning tools for organizations, drawing upon a case involving a workplace wellness program. The study measures employee perceptions and provides an insight into employee beliefs about wellness plan programming. Practical insights for organizations wanting to incorporate court cases into organizational learning are provided.

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory study was conducted via Amazon Mechanical Turk survey data (n= 396). We asked participants about their levels of trust in employer-sponsored wellness programs, their understanding of wellness program parameters and limitations, and their perceptions of liability by utilizing the 2017 Whitman v. Interactive Health Solutions court case.

Findings

The results of this study show that, although employees may not fully understand their employer-sponsored wellness programs, they have a high degree of trust in their employers. Additionally, employees have strong beliefs about potential employer and third-party vendor liability when unintended consequences related to wellness plan programming occur.

Originality/value

This study adds to the small, but growing body of research focused on wellness programming in the workplace. Additionally, by measuring employee perceptions of this court case, we discovered a unique approach to problem-based learning.

Citation

O'Connor, K.W., Drouin, M. and Johnson, L. (2022), "Case law: Learning tools for organizations", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 36 No. 4, pp. 17-19. https://doi.org/10.1108/DLO-09-2021-0156