BLAW-140-40 Week 1 Discussion

Discussion Aim: Analyze and apply case studies or scenarios that involve legal issues to demonstrate an understanding of the nature and sources of law.

You are the team leader of a group of marketers.

One night at a company outing, Robert, a visiting marketer, made inappropriate sexual comments to Lisa, who is on your team. Lisa makes her complaint to you, and you take her complaint to your boss.

Your boss is concerned because Robert is one of his most productive workers, and if he were to be fired or disciplined, the team would suffer. Your boss tells you to convince Lisa to drop the matter and tell her that these things happen and that Robert didn’t mean anything by it.

Questions

1. What would you do?
2. What ethical perspective (Utilitarianism, moral universalism/moral relativism, front page test, Josephson Core Values Model) does your decision fall under?
3. What are the positive and negative outcomes of your decision?
4. If you continue to report up the chain of command, should the manager who asked you to “hush it up” suffer any ramifications?

Thinking about your place of work (or a previous place of work), what would you include in your company’s ethical code to ensure employees like yourself don’t fall into an ethical trap?