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    Business Ethics Case Study Assignment

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    Dave Bennett
    The document discusses three unethical situations that arose in a workplace. [1] An HR employee inappropriately asked applicants about their marital status during an interview. [2] A supplier lied about having organic certification to sell produce at a lower price. [3] Two employees were inappropriately considered for termination based on their personal lives rather than work performance. The document emphasizes the importance of companies establishing clear ethical policies and procedures to avoid illegal and unethical practices that can harm employees and business operations.

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    Business Ethics Case Study Assignment

    Uploaded by

    Dave Bennett
    199 views4 pages
    The document discusses three unethical situations that arose in a workplace. [1] An HR employee inappropriately asked applicants about their marital status during an interview. [2] A supplier lied about having organic certification to sell produce at a lower price. [3] Two employees were inappropriately considered for termination based on their personal lives rather than work performance. The document emphasizes the importance of companies establishing clear ethical policies and procedures to avoid illegal and unethical practices that can harm employees and business operations.

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    Business Ethics Case Study Assignment

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    The document discusses three unethical situations that arose in a workplace. [1] An HR employee inappropriately asked applicants about their marital status during an interview. [2] A supplier lied about having organic certification to sell produce at a lower price. [3] Two employees were inappropriately considered for termination based on their personal lives rather than work performance. The document emphasizes the importance of companies establishing clear ethical policies and procedures to avoid illegal and unethical practices that can harm employees and business operations.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    199 views4 pages

    Business Ethics Case Study Assignment

    Uploaded by

    Dave Bennett
    The document discusses three unethical situations that arose in a workplace. [1] An HR employee inappropriately asked applicants about their marital status during an interview. [2] A supplier lied about having organic certification to sell produce at a lower price. [3] Two employees were inappropriately considered for termination based on their personal lives rather than work performance. The document emphasizes the importance of companies establishing clear ethical policies and procedures to avoid illegal and unethical practices that can harm employees and business operations.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    The passage discusses several unethical issues that arose at a company related to hiring practices, supplier certification, and employee termination.

    The company faced unethical dilemmas regarding asking inappropriate questions during interviews, accepting produce from an uncertified supplier, and terminating an employee for discriminatory reasons.

    Laws violated included those prohibiting discrimination during hiring, requiring organic certification, and protecting employees from wrongful termination.

    Work-related ethics can be a problem for both employers and the employees that

    they affect. The firm has several factors arising during the video there are two new HR

    employees, salsa sales are low, there is a new supplier of tomatoes, and an associate will need

    to be terminated. Throughout the hiring, producing, and termination process several unethical

    issues surface, using ethical reasoning, that should be solved morally and efficiently. The

    business ethics video portrays many problems that can arise in a workplace during any given

    period and the choices that are made to correct and avoid these situations is vital to the

    security of any employer and its employees.

    In the first unethical dilemma, James, the treasurer of the firm interviews two prospects

    for HR positions. James mentions personal information regarding the marital status because the

    boss likes “stable employees.” The EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] says

    that federal law does prohibit covered employers from basing hiring decisions by sex. (Cross &

    Miller, 2018). In accumulation to the EEOC statement, many states have broader discrimination

    laws making that type of question flatly illegal. As an employer I would enforce an ethical code

    of conduct where an applicant’s information must be kept confidential, and that all applications

    must keep up to standards with The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Cross &

    Miller, 2018). James and the boss will read and understand the EEOC laws and need to

    implement a code of ethics that will assist in exercising the proper way to handle personal

    information.

    The second immoral situation that appeared would be when James chose to do business

    with an uncertified supplier despite discovering that the farmer did not have the proper

    documentation to prove that the produce was organic. In this case, James reached out to a new
    supplier, Walter Burns, in New York that would offer tomatoes at a much lower price than his

    current supplier. James told Jane he would get the certification from the farmer and to accept

    the shipment so they can get production moving, even though they don’t have the

    documentation. The company needs to proceed with caution because it is illegal to sell the

    salsa under the USDA code. The code states, “If you are not certified, you must not make any

    organic claim on the principal display panel or use the USDA organic seal anywhere on the

    package” (The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, n.d.). Walter conducted an

    unethical practice when he lies to James because under Utilitarianism; he wasn’t doing the

    greatest good for the greatest number of people, he was only doing what was best for himself

    and his business (Cross & Miller, 2018). James was unethical in this situation because he agreed

    to do business with Walter and accept the shipment without getting the organic certification.

    Manufacturers have an obligation to consumers when they state where and how a product is

    produced and it is unethical and illegal because the company can not say that their salsa is

    organic on a label if the tomatoes are in fact not organic (Organic Labeling, n.d.). As an

    employer, I would first discontinue any relations with the supplier, and for further contracts, I

    would state that all suppliers must be certified organic. If there were any additional changes in

    suppliers, they would have to be authorized by the appropriate office before proceeding.

    The last unethical problem occurred when the boss and James realized that the budget

    would not be met unless an employee was terminated. Downsizing is a regular occurrence in

    the business world, but there are legal ways to go about the process. The company began the

    process correctly by discussing pros and cons of work-related actions, but then considered

    personal aspects of each member. The two men collaborated and explained that Gretchen had
    a husband who worked and then said that Robert was the “sole breadwinner for his family” and

    his child has a health issue. The boss and James suddenly decide to fire Gretchen because

    Robert needed the income more than her. The act of conducting business in this manner is

    unethical because of wrongful termination laws that protect employees for discriminatory

    reasons (Cross & Miller, 2018). As an employer, all information based on the employee’s

    personal life would be kept confidential, and any decision to terminate an associate needs to be

    based on workplace performance. The violation could leave the firm to pay a hefty fine, pay

    Gretchen her salary missed, and re-hire her at her previous pay. Another safeguard is that the

    employer needs to give her a 60-day notice under The Worker Adjustment and Retraining

    Notification Act, so she has time to find another job (The Worker Adjustment and Retraining

    Notification Act, n.d.). The proper handling of this situation needs to be to distribute an

    employee handbook to ensure that employees are aware, investigate before terminating to be

    sure that policy is being followed, know the law because mistakes can be made that are very

    costly, and put the employee on notice.

    All the issues displayed in the video have portrayed not only unethical behavior but also

    an illegal act by the company. Often businesses conduct shady practices that depict some

    immoral action, and it goes unreported because individuals are too scared to move forward. In

    most cases, unethical issues are not solved because of the consequences of being fired or being

    looked down on by co-workers and management. Immoral actions in the workplace can cause

    harm to future sales, employees, and trust between the company and consumers. To prevent

    unscrupulous issues from happening in the first place, it is crucial that the business enforce

    contracts and a code of ethics.


    References

    Cross, F. B., & Miller, R. L. (2018). The Legal Environment of Business: text and cases.

    Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

    Organic Labeling. (n.d.). Retrieved October 09, 2017, from

    https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/organic/labeling

    The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. (n.d.). Retrieved October 09,

    2017, from https://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm

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