Ethics Scenarios

HRM 300 Week 2 Ethics Scenarios

The HR Director is having lunch outside the office. She hears a competitor talking about a significant change in their business that could affect the performance of her own firm.

What is HR’s ethical duty? Since the information pertaining to the significant change in the competitions business was obtained in a public setting and was not intentional, I think that the HR director has every right to use this information to better her firm. Having the inside knowledge of a competitors next move is very convenient as it will allow the HR director to share this information with the proper departments in an effort to combat or even be better than the competing company. In some ways this may be viewed as an unfair advantage for the company that acquired the information, however, the company that divulged the information should have been more concerned with operational security. If they didn’t want to risk the companies next move becoming a competitors advantage, they should have been more careful where they talked about it. Now that the HR director has the information and has shared it with the proper departments, she should analyze the information and determine if it will actually improve the company’s performance or reduce it. It is in the HR directors’ scope to manage staffing as well. If the proposed plan affects the staffing of the firm in any way the HR director should be the one to either hire more employees or relieve staff according to the plan. Ethically I think that the HR director is doing the right thing by using the information.

Explain why this may fall under corporate responsibility and insider trading. Insider trading is any person who possesses access to valuable nonpublic information about a company or corporation or owns 10% or more of a company’s stock (Mary, 2019). The most common form of insider trading is illegal insider trading (Mary, 2019), This scenario could fall into this category simply because the information was involuntarily disclosed to an entity from a competing firm. I do not believe that it would be classified as insider trading though as this scenario is not referring to the buying and selling of stocks or shares. This could result in the HR directors firm making a significant amount of capital with this knowledge, but this scenario is simply one person overhearing what another person is talking about.

What do you do? This depends, the head of the HR department should be well aware of the definition of nepotism and how it is handled within the workplace especially in that position. It states that he referred a family member to another department for consideration. This could simply mean that the HR director asked another department head to talk to his family member about the job prior to it being posted. Either way as a concerned employee, I would ask to speak with either the union if it is a unionized organization or the HR department of another branch of the organization since the HR department is an involved party. Once an investigation was started, I would do what is necessary to ensure that the position was posted for all employees. I would ask the head of the HR departments family member to apply for the position as any other employee would. This would ensure that the applicants can compete for the position equally and pass all necessary background checks and drug tests. Upon completion of the prerequisites the applicants can interview if chosen and the applicant can be selected based on qualifications and not a favor owed to the head of the HR department.

1. The head of HR refers a family member to a department head for consideration in an “unposted” job

Explain this in the context of the corporate responsibility or conflict of interest. If this scenario was the head of the HR department actually trying to give a family member a job for an unposted position, then yes this would absolutely be considered a conflict of interest. Conflict of interest is when a party (the head of the HR department) has the ability to give information to another party (family member). Nepotism also falls under the conflict of interest tree as well, this is the practice of giving favors or special treatment to family members or close friends often by hiring them (Murray, 2018). In any circumstance this is unacceptable behavior. Nepotism goes against the code of ethics for any organization and for most companies Nepotism is actually against the law. To avoid this situation being a conflict of interest for the head of the HR department he should have stepped back when the family member mentioned interest in the company. Another manager could have given the candidate the information.

You just started your new job as the Director of HR for a government contractor. After being there for a few weeks, you notice that employees are being periodically drug tested. However, the tests don’t appear random and tend to focus on one specific group.

Why is it important to investigate and resolve the issue immediately? First and foremost, the government contract is a big deal for any company. Government contracts are given to companies with rules, one of them being a drug free work place, in order to maintain a government contract or obtain a grant from a federal agency this is a requirement that must be agreed upon by the receiving company. If the HR director steps in and discovers some form of discrimination occurring that could potentially breach the contract, he would have to stop this issue immediately. Not only could this be viewed as harassment and or sexual harassment if only a single group is being targeted, this could mean that active drug users are intentionally being avoided so that the contract remains intact. As the HR director finding the underlying causes of this treatment should be paramount, and action should be taken to correct this behavior after.

What should the investigation include? If it were my investigation, I would keep the investigation a secret until actions could be proven and documentation can be provided. The first thing I would do in this position would be to scour the personal records of the individual conducting the drug screens. It would be pertinent to the case to determine how far back these cases go. Once a timeline is created and the person or persons associated discovered and documented witness statements should be obtained and also encouraged to remain silent until further notice. With these things a case can be presented to the individuals conducting the drug screenings. You can bring them in for an interview and ask specific questions that you need answered to solidify your case. Once all steps have been completed the corrective action can be taken to stop this process immediately and resume normal random drug testing.

Does the Drug Free Workplace Act apply here? Yes, it does, the drug free workplace act of 1988 applies to all federal contractors and federal grantees (USDOL, N.D.). It is the employers responsibility to post notices to all employees that if they participate in the manufacture, distribution or consumption of any controlled substance that action will be taken against them. If a contractor or grantee fails to abide by these rules and regulations, they can be subject to certain penalties (USDOL, N.D.).

The manager at one of your locations calls you and wants to terminate an employee for having religious quotes in his desk area. The area is located in the back room and no one but that person has access to the room.

Do you make the person remove them? Why or why not? I personally would not even speak to the person about the religious items on their desk area. If they are the only one that has access to the desk, and it is located in the back room then there should be no way that any other employee can take offense to these items. The manager that is placing this request should not have any reason to see these items either as the only employee in this area is the employee with the religious items on their desk. The only reason I would request an employee take down religious items from public view is if they appeared to be a threat to national security or any individual. Other than that, I have no right to request this.

Can the employee file a lawsuit under the Civil Rights Act, Title VII (1964)? Why or why not? Yes, if I actually did demand that the employee take down their religious items I would be in violation of the civil rights act, title VII of 1964. Title VII states that employers are prohibited from discriminating against an employee on the basis of gender, race, religion, and national origin (EEOC, N.D.). The EEOC is in place to prevent and combat workplace inequality. If the request to take down this employees religious items was fulfilled the employee would have every right to contact the EEOC and file a lawsuit against the employer.

Explain why the manager might not have a case for making the employee take the quotes down. The manager would not have a case against the employee for displaying religious items in his personal space because the employee is within his rights to display religious items. Not only is it within his rights, no other employees had access to this employees work space. The desk was located in the back room of the facility as well so, the only reason any person would need to see the desk or the religious items is if they had to interact with the employee directly. The manager did the right thing by consulting with the HR department first, if the manager had simply demanded that the items be removed the employee would have the right to contact HR and the EEOC. Judging the situation as the scenario reads the manager would not have a case at all nor would he be within his rights to ask the employee to remove any religious items from his work space.

References

EEOC (N.D.) Title VII of the civil rights act of 1964. US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved from: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm

Jean Murray (Oct, 2018) what is a conflict of interest. The balance small business. Retrieved from: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-a-conflict-of-interest-give-me-some-examples-398192

Mary Hall (Mar, 2019) What exactly is insider trading. Investopedia. Retrieved from: https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/what-exactly-is-insider-trading/

US DOL (N.D.) Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 Requirements for Organizations. United States Department of Labor. Retrieved from: https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/asp/drugfree/require.htm