Ethics Quiz 2

4th amendment and "unreasonable searches"

4th amendment is the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated. It also protects the "reasonable expectations of privacy" of both individuals and corporations against unwarranted and unreasonable government searches or seizures.

Use of quotas in Affirmative Action programs

A University cannot impose a fixed quota or otherwise "define diversity as some specified percentage of a particular group merely because of its race or ethnic origin." Once a university gives a reasoned explanation, deference must be given that a diverse student body would serve is educational goals. A university may institute a race-conscious admissions program as a means of obtaining the educational benefits that flow from student body diversity.

CSR - results to business, (corporate social responsibility)

Also known as "green gold." As a part of a larger scheme of new governance in which government, industry, and multiple other stakeholders collaborate in attaining corporate social and environmental goals. The motivation behind this cooperative venture is that there could be an alignment of interests among businesses and all other stakeholders, since socially and environmentally responsible behavior promotes both corporate profits and the good of society at large,

Constitution and the right to privacy

America lacks a comprehensive and uniform legal standard protecting privacy. No express "right to privacy" was written into the U.S Constitution, although the supreme court has interpreted the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth amendments as creating certain privacy rights that cannot be violated by the government

Discrimination based on sex

Because gender identity is a component of sex, discrimination on the basis of gender identity is sex discrimination. In cases where the plaintiff has changed her sex, and faces discrimination because of the decision to stop presenting as a man and start presenting as a woman, courts have traditionally carved such persons out of the statute by concluding that transsexuality is unprotected by Title VII. An individual's choice to change their anatomical sex by undergoing sex reassignment surgery is literally discrimination because of sex.

OSHA of 1970

Began to address the need to prevent workplace accident and health hazards. It established a general duty on the part of every covered employer to maintain a work environment free from "recognized hazards causing death or serious physical harm." It empowered the federal agency to oversee safety and health standards by enforcing the general duty clause and by writing and enforcing detailed health and safety standards for each industry.

EEOC guideline on English-Only

City of Altus, Oklahoma adopted an English-only rule for its employees, 29 workers complained to the EEOC and the EEOC granted them the right to sue. Their claim was that the rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution were violated.

The Workers Rights Consortium

Combats sweatshops by monitoring and investigating working conditions in factories around the word. Pay-Licensees shall pay employees wages and benefits that comply with the law and regulations. Working hours- Hourly and/or quota based wage. Overtime Compensation- all overtime hours must be worked voluntarily and employees must be compensated for overtime hours. Child Labor- Shall not employ any person under the age of 15. Forced Labor- No use of forced prison labor Health and Safety- Licensees shall provide safe and healthy work environments. Nondiscrimination- No person shall be subject to any discrimination

ADA coverage after 2008 amendment

Congress amended the ADA to overturn Supreme Court decisions that had narrowed the broad scope of protection the Act was intended to offer. The law requires courts to construe the definition of disability broadly, clarifying that a person meets the definition of disabled is he or she has any impairment that substantially limits even one major life activity.

Family and Medical Leave Act

Created on the basis that; work is increasing significantly, it is important for parents to participate in early childrearing, parents choose between job security and parenting, there is inadequate job security for serious health conditions. The entitlement to leave is valid for 12 workweeks for one of the following reasons; the birth of a child, the placement of a child, the caring for a close family member during a serious health condition, because of a serious health condition and finally any qualifying exigency. Upon returning, the law guarantees that the employee can return to their position without losing any benefits however they may be relocated to a different job.

General Duty Clause

Each employer shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees. To establish a violation the Secretary must establish: (1) An activity or condition in the employer's workplace presented a hazard to an employee, (2) either the employers or the industry recognized the condition or activity as a hazard, (3) the hazard was likely to cause death or serious physical hard, and (4) a feasible means to eliminate or materially reduce the hazard existed.

OSHA's mission

Ensuring the safety and health of roughly 130 million workers, employed in somewhere between 7 and 8 million workplaces all across the country... With limited resources we achieve our mission through a balanced approach, consisting of standards, enforcement, compliance assistance and outreach, and whistleblower protection.

Shuh's position regarding the role of business

Even if harm is being inflicted in a manner that ought to be stopped, it cannot be the responsibility of individual firms acting alone to stop it. Firms are not in the business of protecting the interests of their workers, except when this is a means to their own goals.

Filing workers' compensation claim

Instead of suing, an injured employee need only to file a claim indicating that she was hurt in the course of her employment; she need not to prove that the company was negligent, nor an the company raise any of the traditional defenses to negligence to defeat her claim. Employers are willing to accept this approach because there is a trade off.

The title VII coverage

It shall be unlawful for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with the respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of such individuals race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It has been interpreted as banning not only outright differential treatment, but also practices that appear to be neutral (height, weight standards, educational requirements)

Emotional Release

Life in society generates such tensions for the individual that both physical and psychological health demand periods of privacy for various types of emotional release.

EPA, pesticides and farmworkers

Regulates pesticides. Its enforcement has with regard to farm workers has been criticized as limited and ineffectual.

EEOC's Responsibility

The impetus for the passage of Title VII was clearly the movement for civil rights for African Americans, and race discrimination remains the most common claim made to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The federal agency is responsible for enforcing the law.

History of monitoring employees

We use to heavily monitor employees in 1800's and encouraged employees not to drink, gamble smoke, be clean, and morals were tightly regulated. Now we find such a story quaint. We believe we have reached some sort of societal consensus that what employees do on their own time, away from the workplace, should be entirely their own business

Telematics

a word coined from a combination of telecommunications and informatics is a technology that transmits data from remote sensors to computers for analysis.

Disparate Impact

in United States labor law refers to practices in employment, housing, and other areas that adversely affect one group of people of a protected characteristic more than another, even though rules applied by employers or landlords are formally neutral. It empowers courts to correct discrimination when they find it: to order companies to hire, promote, adjust raises or benefits, or otherwise compensate those who have been wronged.

Electronic communications privacy act

making int illegal to intercept, disclose, or access messages without authorization, would appear to protect workers from electronic eavesdropping.

Equal protection constitutional guarantee

rests on the central notion that government must be fair and reasonable, not arbitrary. It can sometimes treat classes of people differently, but only if the classification rests upon some difference that has a fair a substantial relation to the goal or purpose of the laws, so that "all persons in similar circumstances shall be treated alike". In other words, to treat two groups differently, the government must show that it has a strong enough reason for doing so.

Prima facie case for religious discrimination

to establish prima facie case of religious discrimination, the employee must show (1) she holds a sincere religious belief that conflicts with a job requirement; (2) she informed her employer of the conflict; and (3) she was disciplined for failing to comply with the conflicting requirement. All factors must be established for the burden to shift to the employer.

Federal Stored Communications act

was intended to afford privacy protection to electronic communications. The SCA was passed in 1986 and is best understood by considering the technology that existed in 1986 (when computer networking was in its infancy. The SCA covers electronic communications that were transmitted via an electronic communication service, that are in electronic storage, and that are not public)