Ethics and Labor Laws, Case Study Example

Chapter 3

Indeed, the issue of having individuals with questionable levels of ethicality and integrity can compromise the progress and report of the organization at large. Besides, it might harm the organization’s targeted measures such as security and harmony. The article emphasizes that ethics among the staff is on fundamental factor when hiring. It relays that the prime point of ascertaining ethical personnel is the recruitment session through various rules such as ethics screen notice to enable the firm to attract persons with similar institution’s culture. As mentioned by Benjamin Schneider, the recruiter should include a warning that the organization has high ethical expectations. Secondly, it reiterates that the firm should put into extreme caution about the legal platforms on recruitment to avoid violations and conflict of the discriminative image through Title IX and Title VII that focuses on equal employment opportunity. Additionally, it mentions on the behavioral information majorly deduced from the resume. On the fourth corner, the personality traits play, with interview questions and post-interview tests coming fifth and sixth.

Well, while the desire to pooling ethically reliable employees remains the all-time dream for employers, achieving it remains a nightmare due to indefinite reasons such as fictitious presentation and legal framework guiding recruitment (Pera, 2017). As a result, firms get condemned to impure staff they never desired. Nonetheless, the establishment of outlines based on a resume might misguide and drag the element of consequentialism. The company might end up acquiring staff that barely meets the qualifications and competence due to the staged desire.

Chapter 6

Having the staff ponder on the ethical concerns of an organization is a mere imagination most organizations put through. As the topic puts it through, most staffs consider sharing the state of events at home rather than at work. As a result, ethical training commands significance for an organization to enhance trust and integrity. As illustrated by the fraud data, it indicates that theft and fraud have become so rampant in the recent past within companies losing an estimated 5% of its proceeds. It explores that close to $200 billion is lost to fraud annually hence raising the importance of ethical training to enhance character.

While training and exposing the staff through expected ethical rubrics, an organization may place a lay belief that having the team trained on moral expectation shall play an ideal role in enhancing integrity. Nonetheless, the concept of virtue might reign in between the situations as an ethical dilemma. While the training might remain excellent in instilling integrity and honesty, the element of chance in the character of the individual might lay an impact. The individual’s dynamic personality might obstruct and lure one into ethically offensive conduct.

Chapter 9

Leaders, other than having the burden of spearheading a successful organization for economic and commercial existence, have the innate responsibility of uplifting and providing the reference point of personality and character. The article about Jon Huntsman, where while selling the company shares of 40% valued at $54 million, decided to stick to the prices six months later on increase of the costs of the shares almost five times to $250 million. Jon maintained that his initial agreement should stand the test of money and remain at $50 million regardless of the new valuation. He even reiterates that it is all about character. He further equates such greed to perhaps unsuccessfulness or temporary success but relates character integrity to becoming and remaining successful.

The choice of holding on managers as the focal point for integrity and role models sounds epic since they lead by leading, both character and in decisions. However, the confidence towards such arguments exposes the entire situation at the ethical dilemma of virtue. While leaders have the perceived role of guiding the subordinates successfully in moral and ethical growth, it should be taken into account that, just like other human beings, leaders might change their characters and behaviors and provide a wrong path to the subordinates.

Chapter 11

The article majors on the environmental management concern by the US. While the US has placed stood among the prolific players towards ecological conservation, the realization of the dreams remains a long way. Politics has greatly played in the effort of undermining CO2 emission within the boundaries. With the Republics and Democrats having counter-views, unstable solutions have come to exists. However, it is worth noting the efforts put in places such as blocking of constructions of a mega oil pipeline, oppressive terms for power factories with the move to initiate more energy effective machinery and equipment. The government has equally reconsidered policies on efficiency. Furthermore, conservatists have reevaluated the maxims and initiated carbon tax approaches, though of which remains debatable on the economic impacts.

The environmental concern has grown into a worldwide issue attracting the attention of the US, China, UN, and other high profiled states. Policies have struggled to thrive, for example, in the United States, such as restricted carbon productions, energy-efficient plants, and equipment to some economically unattractive approach like halting development plans. However, the step to introduce taxation to the emission firms holds an inherent impact, such as a rise in the cost of living on the consumers due to the transfer of costs or even scaring potential investors to tax haven states. The issue, therefore, exposes the country through a utilitarian ethical dilemma where it has to decide on between saving the environment and increasing the cost of living of its citizens or scaring away potential investors altogether depending on which holds more impact on the lives.

Labor Laws in the US and Canada

The rise in discontent in working conditions dating back to the 17^th century led to combined bargaining power among employees to the employers. Depending on various states, bargaining for labor conditions have been taken up by labor unions and other established agencies concerned with the staff unions and organization such as COTU. Through successful and agreed terms, countries tend to vary in aligned labor laws approved and enacted by parliaments. As a result, a passed law within a country applies within a country both to natives and immigrant employees. The study herein shall look into the labor laws between the US and Canada and the impacts the difference in Canada holds on immigrant employees of the US.

Wage Laws in Canada vs. USA

The United States, through its Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), allows for the employment of individuals from the age of 14 years as the minimum age while the Canadian laws allow has a more restricted age minimum for the job to 17 years according to mental and physical readiness (Iparraguirre, 2020). However, employment under the circumstances has more restrictions on acceptable conditions such as avoidance from mining and construction duties.

The USA government has an established minimum wage of $12.00 per hour for any individual under the federal minimum wage prescriptions to nonexempt individuals. In contrast, Canada has an outlined minimum wage of estimated $14, which runs concerning the consumer per index (CPI) (Iparraguirre, 2020). It means that the wage rate for an individual employed by US-based fir moving to Canada shall shoot higher than the counterparts in the US.

The Canadian laws outline particular wage bills as compared to US policies. For example, the working hours in Canada per week strike to 40 hours (Tiffen et al. 2020). It would mean that in a day, an individual would be entitled to 8 working hours while in the US, the standard established number of working hours is 45 hours per week, translating to 9 hours a day.

Canadian Legislations to Dictate How and When to Pay

The Canadian Labor policies stipulate that for each overtime covered by an employee is an extra hour spent within or outside the organization carrying out responsibilities of the employer. The wage value should weigh in 1.5 times the current wage rate of the employee (Thomas, 2019). Similarly, the US FLSA has a shared policy on the calculation of overtime using 1.5 constant multipliers to the number of extra hours worked.

For the Canada guidelines, the state defines severance pay as that amount calculable to an employee upon premature termination while the contract runs. That said, the state, through ESA, acknowledges that it is established through the payment of a single week for each year worked within for an employer. However, the stipulation varies to individuals who don’t subscribe to ESA, which estimates to have a higher benefit. In the USA, the policies allow for monthly payments for each year worked in particular institutions.

Impacts on the Arrangement

Consequently, the policies outlined in Canada would mean different alignments for the specific individual being flown out of the country. For example, the organization shall have to describe a new payment scheme that would adjust from the $12 to $14 per hour, should he be on the ordinary pay scale. Additionally, the firm shall be ready to make preparations for fewer standard working hours, unlike in the US, since the US has a preexisting minimum of 45 against the 40-hour declaration in Canada.

Reference

Iparraguirre, J. L. (2020). Chronological Age and Labor Productivity. In Economics and Ageing (pp. 127-197). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Pera, A. (2017). The prevalence and cost of deviant behavior in the workplace to both organizations and employees. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice, 9(1), 139-145.

Thomas, M. P., Vosko, L. F., Tucker, E., Steedman, M., Noack, A. M., Grundy, J., … & Leinveer, L. (2019). The Employment Standards Enforcement Gap and the Overtime Pay Exemption in Ontario. Labor: Journal of Canadian Labor Studies/Le Travail: revue d’Études Ouvrières Canadiennes, 84, 25-51.

Tiffen, R., Gauja, A., O’Connor, B., Gittins, R., & Smith, D. (2020). Work and Labor. How America Compares (pp. 45-54). Springer, Singapore.