StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Legal and Ethical Issues under Consideration - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The essay "Legal and Ethical Issues under Consideration" focuses on the critical analysis of numerous legal and ethical issues that arise, some related to each other while others stand on their own. First to be reviewed is the legal issues contained therein after which the ethical issues shall be considered…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98% of users find it useful

Extract of sample "Legal and Ethical Issues under Consideration"

Legal Issues

Introduction

In the given scenario, there are a number of legal and ethical issues that arise, some related to each other while others stand on their own. First to be reviewed in this essay shall be the legal issues contained therein after which the ethical issues shall be considered.

Legal Issues in the Scenario

In the case of Doolittle and Home Décor, several legal issues present themselves. For one, the issue of termination of employment comes to mind. In the scenario, the company, Home Décor was right to terminate the employment of Doolittle as he had, on a number of occasions, contravened the provisions of the company policy and as such, in line with those provisions, was subjected to disciplinary action which resulted in the termination. The company was well within its right, going by the doctrine of employment at will as outlined by Sprague (2011, p. 13). This doctrine also gives the company, Home Décor, the leeway to stipulate the working conditions, for all of its employees including Doolittle, such as those that prohibit the use of official company property for non-business purposes and therefore the need to monitor employee use of such property. Regarding this issue therefore, the dismissal of Doolittle was rightful and warranted.

Another couple of legal issues arise in the events that transpired after Doolittle’s stopover at Burger and Brew on his way home, following his dismissal from Home Décor. The issue regards two main issues, the first being the right to avoid incrimination of one’s self as guaranteed by the fifth amendment of the US Constitution (Harper, 2007). This arose in the refusal by Doolittle, as was within his constitutionally entrenched rights, to take the breathalyzer test as had been requested by Officer Norder. The second legal issue in the scenario is that of search and seizure, and the right to privacy which prohibits arbitrary search of one’s person, home or property without either a warrant or a reasonable cause. While the search and seizure doctrine would have normally required the serving of a search warrant to Doolittle before Officer Norder searched his car, the beer can that was in plain sight negated the provisions of the clause hence offering the officer the opportunity to search the car. In this scenario, Officer Norder was right to search the car though the loaded handgun and the unmarked bag of pills could be thrown out in court during subsequent proceedings, as they were circumstantial at best, as Slobogin (2013) advances in consideration of the exceptions to the search and seizure doctrine.

Concerning the action of Doolittle after his arrest and subsequent release, the issue of defamation comes to the fore regarding his blog, aptly calling for the death of Home Décor and its CEO. These statements and depiction through the picture of the logo and CEO in a casket were within his right and discretion and amount to no actionable legal issue. In the blog however, Doolittle made a number of libelous statements and impressions. For one, he clearly portrayed the boss as a witch, in a picture of the boss flying on a broomstick. This action could result in the boss, if he so wishes, seeking legal redress, for which Doolittle would be held responsible. This is because the truth of such a depiction is not very probable, and as such the depiction amounts to defamation of character which could injure the image, standing and reputation of the boss in the society, as Ardia (2013, p. 55) observe of remedies for defamation. The second article, in which Doolittle hinted at a colleague having an affair with her manager may not meet the threshold of libel because the reference to the colleague is only vague and not clear enough as to pose the risk of injury to neither character nor reputation. The article would also not be termed libelous for there is a certain likelihood of truth in it.

Still on the case of Doolittle, the issue of defamation, specifically slander, comes up in the events following his application for a job at DIY Home Innovations. When Lida Lott, the HR Manager at Home Décor received a call from the HR department at DIY Home Innovations seeking to obtain a reference on Doolittle, she was involved in a character assassination effort. In claiming, though “off the record,” that Doolittle may have been involved with drugs, Lott lied and therefore caused injury to the character and reputation of Doolittle, costing him a possible job offer at DIY Home Innovations. In this regard therefore, Doolittle, should he find out about the slander by Lott, could seek legal redress and would certainly win some remedy for the damages caused, provided, as Marton, Wilk & Rogal (2010, p. 53) claim, that he can prove such damage.

Regarding the new employee in advertising, Lacey Fair, and her use of images from other web sites, the legal issues that arise are the use of intellectual property as outlined by Susan Wynns and the doctrine of fair use, as claimed by Lacey herself. While the doctrine of fair use provides that individuals may use, to a limited extent, copyrighted materials without express permission for the provider, the doctrine does not include plagiarism, as Lacey did but rather limits such use to commentaries, criticisms, parodies, research and news reports, and search engines as Netanel (2011, p. 715). Nowhere does the fair use doctrine include pictures from individual websites. Seeing as Lacey, in acquiring the pictures from various websites without either citation or credit to the publishers, infringed on intellectual property rights, she could be sued for such infringement and pay damages to the aggrieved parties.

Ethical Issues in the Scenario

From the scenario, ethical issues also arise from the deeds and misdeeds of the characters involved. First, Doolittle acted unethically in using the property of the company for personal use, in clear contravention of company policy and of professional ethics. Further, in engaging in private business during work hours, he also went against the professional ethics which require one to dedicate work hours to work related business and engagements. Secondly, in starting a blog which called for the death of his former employer, Home Décor, Doolittle acted with neither professionalism nor the requisite decorum of professionals. He flouted several ethical considerations in going as far as insulting his former boss and tainting the name of not just the boss but also the company and the employee whom he alleged was having an affair with the boss. Doolittle should have acted professionally and desisted from the smear campaign he started against his former employer and colleagues.

Unethical and unprofessional conduct is however not limited to the actions of Doolittle alone. The Human Resource manager at Home Décor, Lida Lott, acted unethically in the discharge of her duties when she was called by the HR department at DIY Home Innovations. In deliberately trying to block the company from hiring Doolittle, she made up lies; “off the record,” about Doolittle’s involvement with drugs, a very unethical act which was intended to satisfy her whims. Considering the behavior of Lott, the proper and ethical thing to do would have been to advise the HR department at DIY Home Innovations of the facts she had rather than manufacture lies to harm the character of their former employee, Doolittle.

Ethical issues also arise in the case of Home Décor creating a position specifically for the granddaughter of the CEO. As it turns out, the lady, Lacey Fair, had not even completed her studies at the university, which means she had not even qualified for the position yet. While it is not wrong to create positions in organizations, it is not ethical to do such creation for an individual because of the sway they hold, as was the case of Lacey Fair who happened to be related to the boss. Another ethical issue also arises, as Doolittle claimed, in the case of the female employee who had an affair with the boss. This stretches the limit of ethical conduct at the workplace as it leads to a conflict of interest on the part of both the boss and the employee in question. Such a relationship might spill over into the conduct of professional responsibilities by the two parties.

Further, issues of ethics also arise in the conduct of Lacey Fair, in regards to her fulfillment of the role of an advertising executive. By lifting pictures from other websites in order to use in that of Home Décor, the granddaughter of the CEO flouted provisions of respect for intellectual property and infringed on the copyrights of the publishers of such pictures. In so doing, she acted unethically and went ahead to justify the actions using the doctrine of fair use which does not apply to her case.

Conclusion

Many of the actions of the characters involved in the scenario above present either ethical issues or legal issues with most of those issues arising from the conduct of the characters in regard to the fulfillment of their jobs. Some however present both ethical and legal issues.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Legal and Ethical Issues under Consideration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words, n.d.)
Legal and Ethical Issues under Consideration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words. https://studentshare.org/law/2094895-legal-and-ethical-issues-under-consideration
(Legal and Ethical Issues under Consideration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words)
Legal and Ethical Issues under Consideration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words. https://studentshare.org/law/2094895-legal-and-ethical-issues-under-consideration.
“Legal and Ethical Issues under Consideration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words”. https://studentshare.org/law/2094895-legal-and-ethical-issues-under-consideration.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Legal and Ethical Issues under Consideration

Legal and Ethical Considerations in Marketing, Product Safety, and Intellectual Property

legal and ethical Consideration in Marketing, Product Safety, and Intellectual Property University Name legal and ethical Consideration in Marketing, Product Safety, and Intellectual Property Introduction In an increasingly competitive and global environment, companies are struggling just to stay afloat, much earn substantial profits.... The backdrop to this dialogue will be a strong consideration of the ethical obligations that a company like PharmaCARE has to the global community....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

The Legal and Ethical Considerations of Marketing in America

Aside from taking into consideration the four Ps of marketing namely, the product, price, place and promotion, it is also important to note that there are legal and ethical considerations in.... The legal issues in the packaging, specifically the labeling of products is one aspect in the marketing strategy which must be considered by organizations.... ethical considerations on the other hand, deals with the morality of the marketing decisions of organizations and its concept of fairness in The American Marketing Association (AMA) is committed to promoting the highest ethical standards among its members....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

LEGAL AND ETHICal issues in health

under these conditions, they choose the time and the means by which to die, and therefore are able to lend a semblance of dignity to their death and the end of their life (Kerridge, et.... he main considerations for this case would relate to the four ethical principles as laid out by Beauchamp and Childress (2001).... These ethical principles include: autonomy or self-determination, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice (Beauchamp and Childress, 2001)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Assignment

An Investigation into a Contemporary Health Issue: Ethical and Moral Implications of Euthanasia

The 'Right to Die' group argues that euthanasia is ethically wrong and is driven by some socio-ethical issues that are propagated by society.... However, the major deciding factor remains the medical practitioners whose moral and ethical obligations determine the fate of a patient.... In New Zealand, where costs associated with the treatment of lifetime diseases like diabetes is rising, legalizing euthanasia can have negative moral and ethical implications (Friezelle, 2003)....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

Legal and Professional Considerations in Agile Development

They include legal considerations, professional considerations and ethical considerations.... Software practitioners have always experienced pressure that forces them to compromise their work in order to offer reasonable care to other parties that are or rather will be in affected by the software....
4 Pages (1000 words) Coursework

Definition of Ethical Behaviour Faculty of Health Professions

The financial consideration for this alternative is the loss of total stock which is now considered scrap.... The financial consideration for this alternative is the loss of a total stock which is now considered scrap.... (c) The third alternative seems to be the most sensible and rational under the circumstances, that is, once again, carry out thorough checks on the lead content of the whistles contained in the consignment and separate the Quality Checked whistles vis-à-vis the rejectable ones....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Paper

The Importance of Ethics in the Information Technology

IT professionals work in organizations and manage the personal data, storage, file transfer, use of social media, and a number of ethical issues that may arise while handling the information systems.... These IT professionals are people with advanced training and expertise in the information systems and they are responsible for managing the issues related to IT in organizations (Bott, 2005).... The global financial crisis was observed in 2007-2008 which was mainly due to the unethical decision making; this shows how important ethical implications have become....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Accounting Choice and the Ethical Considerations

As far as basics are concerned, the ethical consideration is supposed to honesty by which the person is able to conduct the business.... As far as basics are concerned, the ethical consideration is supposed to honesty by which the person is able to conduct the business.... As far as basics are concerned, the ethical consideration is supposed to honesty by which the person is able to conduct the business.... The paper also tries to understand the conflicts faced by the social structure for ensuring ethical consideration in the accounting system across the world....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us