Chapter 6

Identify the true statements about the ethical rationale for the employment-at-will (EAW) doctrine.

1. A manager is in the best position to know what is best for his or her firm and the law should not interfere with those decisions. 2. Total discretion over employment allows managers to make efficient decisions that contribute to the greater overall good.

Which of the following are examples of sweatshops?

1. CASL Auto does not ensure that safety standards are met in its manufacturing units and pays their employees wages lower than the local poverty rate. 2. EYP Tech Solutions forces its employees to work overtime and underpays them.

Which of the following standards are part of the Base Code established by the Ethical Trade Initiative addressing living wages?

1. Deductions from wages not provided for by national law shall not be permitted without the expressed permission of the worker concerned. 2. Wages should always be enough to meet basic needs and also to provide some discretionary income.

What are the arguments raised by those who argue in favor of requiring the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to use cost-benefit analysis for setting up health and safety standards?

1. Even if a standard is technologically and economically viable, it would still be unfair if the benefits did not outweigh the costs. 2. OSHA should focus on achieving the optimal level of safety.

Identify the features of affirmative action.

1. It can take place in employment environments, education, and other areas. 2. It is the intentional inclusion of previously excluded groups.

What are the drawbacks of the acceptable risk approach to workplace health and safety?

1. It equates workplace risks with other types of risks without considering their differences. 2. It improperly incentivizes people who may financially benefit by not reducing workplace risks that they could control. 3. It treats employees disrespectfully and overlooks their role in the decision-making process.

Which of the following are true of the free-market approach to workplace health and safety?

1. It favors compensating injured workers when it can be proved that employers were liable for causing the harms. 2. It holds that individual bargaining with employers leads to the optimal distribution of safety and income in competitive and free labor markets.

What are the inherent problems in the free-market approach to workplace health and safety?

1. It is based on the invalid assumption that labor market is perfectly competitive and free and allows employees to make free choices. 2. It addresses questions from a purely individual perspective and ignores questions of social justice and public policy.

In the context of due process in the workplace, identify the consequences of the unjust exercise of the acknowledged authority of employers over employees in the employment relationship.

1. It reduces employee morale. 2. It leads to the emotional abuse of employees. 3. It causes loss of dignity, intimidation, and fear among employees.

In the context of the expectations to the employment at will rule, which of the following reverse the burden of proof and require employers to show cause to justify the dismissal of an employee?

1. Just cause 2. Due process rights

Which of the following are true of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)?

1. Regulations established by OSHA in its early years were aimed at achieving the safest feasible standards. 2. OSHA regulations were biased in favor of health and safety as they required businesses to prove that high standards were not economically feasible.

Identify the steps a firm should follow to ensure an ethical process of downsizing.

1. The decision to downsize should be made by a representative group to ensure that all stakeholder interests are considered. 2. The firm should adopt measures to reduce the impact of the decision on all employees and permit the terminated employees to leave with dignity.

Identify the basic guidelines for creating affirmative action program and policies.

1. The effort or policy may not keep aside any positions for women or minorities. 2. They should be only temporary in that the programs or policies are for the goal of attaining a balanced workforce.

Which of the following are the basic guidelines for creating affirmative action programs and policies?

1. They should not unsettle any legitimate, deeply rooted expectations of employees. 2. They should represent a minimal intervention into the legitimate, settled expectations of employees.

Identify the challenges raised against the approach that requires the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to use cost-benefit analysis for establishing health and safety standards.

1. This approach involves trading off health and safety against profit margin. 2. This approach treats health and safety merely as an instrument value and ignores the intrinsic value of employees' lives.

Which of the following are included in voluntary affirmative action plans?

1. Training plans and programs. 2. Focused recruiting activity.

Identify the standards that are part of the Base Code established by the Ethical Trade Initiative addressing living wage.

1. Wages paid for a standard working week meet, at a minimum, national legal standards or industry benchmark standards, whichever is higher. 2. All workers shall be given written and clear information about their employment conditions with regard to wages before they join as an employee.

Identify the ways in which affirmative action arises in a workplace.

1. Where Executive Order 11246 does not apply, courts may require "judicial affirmative action" to remedy a finding of past discrimination. 2. By legal requirements.

Identify the arguments made by philosophers Benjamin Powell and Matthew Zwolinski in the seminal article titled "The Ethical and Economic Case against Sweatshop Labor: A Critical Assessment" defending the moral legitimacy of sweatshops.

1. Workers are able to give consent even within their limited set of choices. 2. Workers acknowledge the risks associated with working in sweatshops but decide to work as it will give them the economic power that they lacked.

The term ____________ ____________ signifies children who work, and it has also taken on the meaning of exploitative work that can cause some harm to a child who is not of an age to explain his or her presence in the workplace.

Child Labor

Match the exceptions to the employment-at-will (EAW) rule.

Civil right laws - these laws prevent dismissal of employees on the basis of membership in certain prohibited classes such as race, sex, disability, age, national origin, religion, or ethnic background. Labor laws - these laws stop employers from dismissing employees for union activities.

_______________ refers to the presence of diverse cultures, languages, races, ethnicities, affinity orientations, genders, religious sects, abilities, social classes, ages, and national origins of the employees in a firm.

Diversity

Larry and Co, a multinational advertising agency, is forced to close its services in various regions due to financial constraints. As part of cost-cutting efforts, the company terminates many employees offshore and at the headquarters. Which of the following measures is exemplified in the given scenario?

Downsizing

Identify a challenge related to the free-market approach to workplace health and safety.

Employees rarely have the kind of complete information efficient markets require for making informed choices.

The doctrine known as ____________ ____ ________ (EAW) holds that, in the absence of a particular contractual or other legal obligation that specifies the length or conditions of employment, all employees are employed "at will".

Employment- at-will

Identify a true statement about a firm's decision to downsize.

It adversely affects stakeholder perceptions about the firm's commitment to corporate social responsibility.

Which of the following is true of the instrumental value of an employee who dies in a workplace accident?

It is calculated, in part, by the lost wages the employee would have earned if he or she lived.

Which of the following is a best practice for managers when a company is downsizing?

Managers should show visibility, approachability, and honesty toward employees.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a federal agency in the United States that...

Publishes and implements safety and health regulations for U.S. businesses.

Match the major elements of the acceptable risk approach to workplace health and safety.

Risk - it refers to the likelihood of harm in a workplace. Relative Risk - it involves a comparison of the likelihood of harm involved in various activities.

Match the tests used by courts to decide whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor.

The common-law agency test - This test is a persuasive indicator of independent contractor status that provides the employer the ability to control the manner in which the work is performed. The economics reality test - This test is used by courts to consider whether the worker is economically dependent on the business or, as a matter of economic fact, is in business for himself or herself.

According to the free-market approach to workplace health and safety, which of the following urges employers to maintain a reasonably safe and healthy workplace?

The threat of compensation for injured employees.

True or False: Historically, the ethical rationale for the employment-at-will (EAW) rules was that private property owners have the right to control their property by controlling who works for them.

True

True or False: The law permits employers to decide on discrimination on any basis other than those prohibited by the Constitution, precedent, and several statutes.

True

True or False: Basic fairness applied through due process requires that an employer's authority over employees should be exercised in a just manner.

True.

One of the concerns about diversity in the workplace involves....

assimilating diverse viewpoints into a preexisting corporate culture.

According to the Kantian approach to the ethics of workplace relationships, employers' decision to treat employees well is motivated by their...

awareness of duty and rights.

Philosophically, the right of ____________ ____________ is the right to be protected against the arbitrary use of authority.

due process

According to the utilitarian approach to the ethics of workplace relationships, employees are treated well by employers because......

it fosters high levels of innovation among employees.

One of the major criticisms of the acceptable risk approach to workplace health and safety is that.....

it ignores the basic deontological right employees may have to safe and healthy working environments.

As work takes children out of school, nation-specific studies show that high levels of child labor correlate with......

low literacy levels.

The principle of tolerance and inclusion that backs the co-existence of multiple cultures, while boosting each to retain that which is unique or special about that particular culture, is referred to as.....

multiculturalism

The courts have cautiously constructed legal precedent in the decades after Title VII of the United States Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and established the.....

prohibited classes of discrimination.

Decisions made or actions taken against individuals who are historically considered to be in power or the majority, such as white men, or in favor of a traditionally non-dominant group is known as...

reverse discrimination.

Employees tend to be more satisfied with their firm when they believe that......

the firm values their emotion.

A major challenge concerning due process in the workplace is....

the lack of consensus in the definition of basic fairness.

According to philosophers Benjamin Powell and Matthew Zwolinski, the moral imperative of supporting sweatshops is.....

the welfare of the least advantaged who face the economic aftermath of current economic and political decisions.