Discussion: Ethics and Law Assignment

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Discussion: Ethics and Law Assignment

Question 1:

What impressions did you form from reading about the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights? What recent events related to these provisions or situations have changed your impressions? Why? Do these “rights” also apply to businesses? If so, should they?

Then, go to www.opensecrets.org or www.fec.gov to obtain the necessary information. Discuss what types of industries and businesses would need to exercise their corporate political speech rights more than others and why they would do so. Be sure to include a discussion of what types of constitutional protections exist for such political donations by corporations

Pages 1-2 , 3 references minimum

Question 2:

Select a current article that is relevant to Chapter 6 (Administrative Law) and Chapter 10 (Environmental law). The article should address a legal business issue that impacts the environment and is affected by the rulings of a federal administrative agency. Conduct additional research for state regulations that impact the same business. Current developments are primarily obtained from the WSJ, Business Week (see the “Socials Issues” column), Fortune, New York Times, US News & World Report, Fast Company, BBC World Service, CCN World News, etc.). There is also an excellent source of sites listed throughout the textbook. The paper should be five to six pages long. You must have a minimum of four (4) resources including the book.

Print a copy and highlight the important areas.

Write a two to three page summary of the article and the laws and agencies that impact the business.

Perform a stakeholder analysis of all the parties who are impacted by the regulations and the rulings of the administrative agencies.

Your last one to two pages should analyze the ethical nature of the law and the actions of the parties and note a strategy that a business leader should implement in order to mitigate future legal issues related to the regulations.

Question 3:

The website EEOC.gov should be a bookmarked site for any individual who is working as or plans to work as a manager in a business with more than one (i.e., the owner) employee. This website contains the information that the federal government expects companies and businesses to use and follow with respect to hiring, firing, and disciplining its employees. It explains disabilities, how to handle them, and when to use them in making hiring decisions. It also provides information about “protected classes,” in which people must be a member before they can claim “discrimination.”

You should plan to visit the EEOC website during this week to help work through the ethical issues presented on page 754.

What is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? What rights have been provided to individuals per this federal legislation?

What is one aspect of Title VII that has been violated by the company?

Pages 1-2 , 3 references minimum

Question 4:

Disclaimer: This is a fictional story. It did not happen.

You are a newly promoted supervisor for Playing with God, a company that makes computer games for a Christian bookstore. One of the directors on the corporate board is Jon Bakker, a long lost nephew of TV evangelists Jim and Tammy Faye. Jon’s son, Larry Bakker, is a member of your department. He writes the story lines that go into the different games. He has very little computer expertise, but he does have a creative writing degree and writes really great Bible-based game stories. One of his games has won an award in the Christian Video Game arena.

This morning you are served with a lawsuit from Nintendo. It alleges that your last game, Praying with Larry Podder, violates their exclusive right to market games under the Harry Potter label. You are incensed. Larry Podder was the invention of Larry Bakker and was actually a story he made up about himself, drawing on his own childhood experiences. At least, that is what he told you. You personally know that the aunt in the game looks just like Tammy Faye.

To make matters worse, you receive a phone call from your boss that Warner Brothers is preparing a lawsuit, unless you agree right now to pull Praying with Larry Podder from shelves and send them all the profits from the game, to date. Praying was your number one seller this year and could move your company into the first place rankings for Christian video games. Your boss, a company vice president, demands to know if the story line is even remotely like Harry Potter. You are horrified to admit you have no idea, having neither played the game nor having read Harry Potter.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, your boss states, “And why do you suppose Warner Brothers mentioned the Napster case in the call? We’re not hosting file sharing in that game are we?” You are suddenly stricken as you remember that one of the really cool things about the game is that players can go online and share prayers, sheet music for hymns, and Christian music CDs in MP3 format. That was one of the best parts of the game. The vice president states, “The Warner Bros. exec said that his daughter just bought the game and called it the Christian Napster. Furthermore, I have a message from J. K. Rowling’s attorney I have to return next. You better have an answer for this!” He hangs up.

You’re not a lawyer, but you did hear about Napster. It’s time to do some research. You need to call in Larry and find out about this video game.

Will being a Christian organization protect you from this lawsuit under the First Amendment? Is it analogous to parody?

What things/facts do you need to find out from Larry?

If you are allowing file sharing on this game, does this open you up to liability for violation of the digital Millennium Copyright Act?

If it is true that the game is about Larry Bakker’s life and not Harry Potter’s, what will you need to prove to defend against this lawsuit?

Pages 1-2 , 3 references minimum

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