...Many small and big businesses like your company have numerous methods to protect themselves from lawsuits in the area of criminal activity and workplace torts. With proper training programs and a comprehensive set of electronic communications policies in place, companies such as yours can reduce many of the criminal and workplace torts that could occur within your workplace or business location and reduce the risk and occurrence of lawsuits and liabilities associated with the improper and illegal usage of the company resources such as Internet usage, email, and use of the company Network and computing systems. Many of the torts that typically occur outside of the workplace can easily occur within the workplace environment because of improper employee use, misuse, or illegal use of the Internet, social media, and email provided by companies such as XYZ Corp. A brief summary of the workplace torts that can create corporate liability and from which corporations and business owners must protect themselves from include but are not limited to: 1. Intentional torts (torts against a person): Assault, Battery, False Imprisonment, and Intentional infliction of emotional distress. 2. Property Torts such as Conversion and Copyright Infringement. 3. Dignitary torts activity that causes injury another person’s reputation or honor. 4. Torts are affecting business operations, such as Fraud and Tortious interference. 5. Negligence due to failure to provide a reasonable standard of care...
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...HRM855 – The legal Environment | Bullying in the Workplace | The law, its implications, and the future | For: Bob Thompson | By: Anthony DeRose Mike MortonPerna CaputoSaralyn ManzanoTara Knight | 3/24/2015 | | Bullying in the workplace is a serious issue and more prevalent than ever. The University of Windsor’s Odette School of Business in 2011 found 40% of Canadians experience one or more acts of workplace bullying a week. The Canadian Safety Council reports that 75% of victims quit (CBC News). Not only does workplace bullying have serious negative consequences for an individual’s career, it can have a devastating impact on mental and physical health. The damages associated with bullying are exemplified in the following. The legislation in Canada that protects workers from bullying is in its infancy. It does not use the term bullying at any point. Victims of bullying can receive remediation through the common law and statutes. However, as Human Resources Professionals it is our legislated duty to provide safe workplaces for the employees we manage. Additionally, our responsibility is to mitigate the costs of litigation posed by bullying. Proactive HR policies that emphasize education and open communication, combined with legislation that deters this negative pattern of behaviour will help to minimize this risk and associated expenses. ------------------------------------------------- What is workplace bullying? According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational...
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...coworker was not professional by any means and due to those actions alone she should have been reprimanded or even fired if it could have been proven that she was the one that sent the screensaver. The defendant also stated in his argument that he often participated with other members in the office when they joked around about things that were not work appropriate. The judge’s decision was made very easily due to evidence and the defendant’s testimony. The evidence showed what the employee’s job description was and what is expected of them as employees along with guidelines for any sexual harassment that may been seen or expected. The defendant basically shoot himself in the foot by not reporting any of the incidents that occurred in the workplace. When the initial incident occurred he should have reported the employees and the appropriate actions would have been handled by management. The plaintiff’s testimony was truthful and she even exploited more of the truth than what the defendant initially stated in his testimony. The sexual harassment was done both ways and he made it seem like he was the only victims in this case. The judge ruled in neither of the two because there was no proof of that emails and screensaver caused the defendant to not get his promotion. I do believe that if he had proof from his boss that he didn’t get the job due to the screen saver then the ruling would have been different. Civil liability is to be responsible for debts or wrongdoing against...
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...Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………4 Explain the importance of the essential elements require for the formation of a valid contract…………….5 Discuss the impact of different types of contract……………………………………………………………………………………5 Analyze terms in contracts with reference to their meaning and effect…………………………………………….…..6 Apply the elements of contract in given businesses scenarios……………………………………………………………….7 Apply the law on terms in different contracts……………………………………………………………………………………..…7 Evaluate the effect of different terms in given contracts……………………………………………………………………....8 Duty of care in the tort of negligence & Difference between liability in tort and contractual liability…….8 Explain the nature of liability in negligence……………………………………………………………………………………………9 The concept and elements of vicarious liability in business…………………………………………………………………..10 Apply the elements of the tort of negligence in business situations……………………………………………………..12 Apply the elements of vicarious liability in given business situations……………………………………………………12 Reference…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….13 Introduction The purpose of this report is to identify the aspects of Contract and Negligence for Business. Now days, the business environment is full of agreements between businesses and individuals. While oral agreements can be used, most businesses use formal written contracts when engaging in operations. Written contracts provide individuals and businesses with a legal...
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...privacy has gotten affected by all these technological developments, what precedents had been establish when it comes to the use of technology in the workplace and privacy? Are we liable for the use of personal e-mails in the workplace? Should e-mail be considered analogous to mail and telephone conversations? Many more questions come up when technology and privacy in the workplace are at the center of the debate and some of them will be address in this paper. Intrusion by Seclusion means that the right to privacy is invaded by the unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another. This is based on the Restatement, Second of Torts 652A. According to Rich (1995): “One must ask whether the law protecting the right to privacy has evolved with the new technologies to ensure the vitality of the Fourth Amendment.” It is important to notice that the Supreme Court has defined privacy as the right of the individual to control the dissemination of information about oneself (Rich, 1995, p. 1). Rich (1995) continues to explain: Privacy as guaranteed by the U.S. Cosntitution differs in two significant ways from privacy protected by tort law: (1) the types of acts constituting an invasion of privacy are very different, and (2) the type of protection provided to individuals – constitutional privacy protects against governmental intrusion while tort law primarily protects against invasion by private parties. Fourth Amendment privacy right only apply in those situations where the government...
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...Informed Consent Informed Consent is defined as consent by a patient to undergo a medical or surgical treatment or to participate in an experiment after the patient understands the risks involved. (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn 2011) This concept is based in general on a patient’s right to self-determination when given adequate disclosure of a specific treatment plan. Informed consent is a legal procedure to ensure that a patient or client knows all of the risks and costs involved in a treatment. The elements of informed consent include informing the client of the nature of the treatment, possible alternative treatments, and the potential risks and benefits of the treatment. As well as making sure the patient quantifies the in layman’s terms the risks and outcomes/prognosis if procedure or treatment is refused. Informed consent is especially important in high risk procedures as in procedures that are more likely to generate a lawsuit. In order for informed consent to be considered valid, the client must be competent and the consent should be given voluntarily.(http://psychology.about.com/od/iindex/g/def_informedcon.htm 2011) Informed consent is a legal document in all 50 states, prepared as an agreement for treatment, non-treatment, or for an invasive procedure that requires physicians to disclose the benefits, risks, and alternatives to the treatment, non-treatment, or procedure. Another important aspect of informed consent is that it should be attained both...
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...Running Head: Electronic Surveillance of Employees Electronic Surveillance of Employees Tenika Farris Professor: Anne Dewey- Balzhiser LEG 500-Law, Ethics & Corp. Governance 10/22/2011 Introduction New technology allows employers to monitor the job performance of their employees which has become a common practice in some workplaces. This procedure can be accomplished through e-mail, telephone, camera, internet and other electronic surveillance monitoring systems. This procedure was designed to be used solely for business purposes. In many instances employees have been made to feel as if their privacy has been invaded. Upon implementing such practices employers and employees both have a need to be knowledgable of any policies permitting the use of monitoring devices and to know their rights. Research The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) is the only federal statute that offers workers protections in communications privacy. ECPA prohibits the intentional interception of electronic communications. However, the ECPA contains loopholes that facilitate employee monitoring. First, employers are permitted to monitor networks for business purposes. This enables employers to listen in on employee phone calls or to view employees' e-mail. Employers may not monitor purely personal calls, however, in order to determine that a call is personal, employers usually have to listen to portions of the employee's conversation. Second, an employer may intercept...
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...S. Constitution, although the Supreme Court has interpreted the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments as creating certain privacy rights that cannot be violated by the government. Many employees may claim that electronic monitoring amounts to “intrusion” which is a variation on the tort of invasion of privacy (Halbert & Ingulli, 2009). “Intrusion involves invading another person’s solitude in a manner considered highly offensive— unauthorized prying into a personal bank account, or a landlord bugging the wall of his ten- ants’ bedroom, for example. Most courts consider two main factors: (1) the obnoxiousness of the means used to intrude; that is, whether it is a deviation from the normal, accepted means of discovering the relevant information; and (2) the reasons for intruding” (Halbert & Ingulli, 2009 p. 74). 1. Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. The increased use of technology in the workplace has created new concerns for both employers and employees in the area of privacy just like the privacy issue that is going on at the Fade In-Interior Auto Dealership. The reasons for the large expansion in the use of technology in the workplace are far from surprising. The use of email and the Internet can significantly reduce operating costs through automation of human tasks, facilitate communication on innumerable levels, and can clearly increase efficiency in almost all tasks. But with the many positive reasons to how technology...
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...CHAPTER 1 “LEGAL FOUNDATIONS” Administrative law is the body of law that governs the activities of administrative agencies of government. Clean hands doctrine a rule of law that a person coming to court with a lawsuit or petition for a court order must be free from unfair conduct (have "clean hands" or not have done anything wrong) in regard to the subject matter of his/her claim. Common law is based on precedent (legal principles developed in earlier case law) instead of statutory laws. It is the traditional law of an area or region created by judges when deciding individual disputes or cases. Constitutional law – a body of law dealing with the distribution and exercise of government power. Criminal Law versus Civil Law – Civil * between you and another citizen (no government involved); * disagreements between citizens were no crime has been committed (only e.g. injury); * designed to compensate parties (including businesses) for losses as a result of another conduct ; * e.g. speeding and parking violations; * don’t result in loss of freedom, though they can result in loss of privileges or fines. Criminal * between you and the government/law; * are a protection of society; * Congress and House of Representatives are involved; * When the individuals break the laws/are against the government; * actions that have been declared illegal; * they are prosecuted by the state (city, state or country); * normally punished with...
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...CHAPTER 12 – EMPLOYMENT LAW I: EMPLOYEE RIGHTS Part One - Selection Job Classification › Employment-related legal rights and responsibilities depend on the type of relationship the employer decides to build with the worker. › Contingent workers, along with independent contractors, who are increasingly relied on to perform specific, short-term, nonrecurring jobs, permit employers to rapidly & inexpensively inflate or shrink workforces as competitive & regulatory conditions change. Employee or Independent Contractor? • Employee (long-term or contingent) or an independent contractor: worker under contract to organization to do specific task, not legally part of organization. • Where a worker’s performance is controlled by an employer or where employer has right or ability to control that work, worker likely to be considered employee. • Business that hires independent contractor generally is not required to comply with wide range of employment & labor law standards that would apply where worker is employee. Thus, business must provide unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation coverage, minimum wages, and so on to employees, but generally would not need to do so for independent contractors. Employers not liable for discrimination claims by independent contractors. Classification Problems • Employees, unlike independent contractors, are protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires, among other things, the payment of the federal minimum wage & overtime...
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...privacy in the workplace. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures" (U.S. Const., amend. IV.1), however, the Fourth Amendment applies only to government actions, not to actions of private employers. As a result government employees may appear to have a fairly stronger claim for protection against electronic monitoring and surveillance than private sector employees. Thus in the U.S., workers in the workplace, except occasionally in restrooms and employee locker rooms, are not normally protected from surveillance on the grounds that the premises and equipment are possessions of the employer and the employee can have no reasonable expectation of intimacy or protection from employer intrusion. The employee, in the employment-at-will setting, has completely consented to the employer's right to monitor the employee closely "for any reason, no reason, or even reason morally” wrong to lose their job. Employees normally have no expectation of privacy in public or in the workplace. Most courts are employing narrow reasoning when discussing reasonable expectation of privacy on e-mail, using “voluntariness” of e-mail communications and property-based notions of ownership of computer systems to negate employees’ privacy interests in their e-mail communications. Most of employees can expect to have reasonable privacy outside their workplace to challenge...
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...Evaluate the effectiveness of the legal system in dealing with discrimination against women. Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) and all amendments De Facto Relationship Act 1984 (NSW) Fair Work Act 2009 (Cwlth) Industrial Arbitration (Female Rates) Amendment Act 1959 (NSW) Married Persons (Property and Torts) Act 1901 (NSW) Married Women’s Property Act 1893 (NSW) Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cwlth) Women’s Legal Status Act 1918 (NSW) Affirmative Action (Equal Opportunity for Women) Act 1986 (Cwlth) Intro: Women over the years has been known of their traditional roles as domestic carers being exposed to different kinds of discrimination and it has only been recently that laws and legislations have been put in place in order to protect women in Australia.Victimisation and discrimination denoted Women seen as property of men, unito caro Women during the 19th were seen as the property of men and unito caro, one entity, ‘one flesh’ with her husband Not allowed to enter contracts; Married Women’s Property Act 1893 (NSW) can own property and enter into contracts Married Persons (Property and Torts) Act 1901 (NSW); the right to sue and be sued is granted The eventual change in traditional gender roles was caused by gradual empowerment of women To be allowed to vote: Legal responses: Education : women discriminated against due to sex, women was not a ‘person’ e.g. In 1899, Miss Ada Evans completed her law degree and was discriminated...
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...Workers in North Dakota are covered for workplace injury by the Workmen’s Compensation Bureau. The bureau was created in 1919 by the 16th North Dakota legislative assembly for the purpose to provide “sure and certain relief regardless of questions of fault to the exclusion of every other remedy, proceeding or compensation” (WSI). The intent was to provide relief to workers injured while on the job in the form of compensation for lost wages and payment of medical bill incurred for the injury. The trade-off for coverage is the agreement that workers forego suing their employers when injured on the job. Due to this trade-off, I believe workers’ compensation disadvantages workers from seeking damages brought on by the negligence of the employer. In the case of Zimmerman v. Valdak Corp., workman’s compensation fulfilled its promise of being the exclusive remedy for compensation by barring Zimmerman from suing his employer and in the process leaving him without adequate compensation for his...
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...Doctrine of vicarious liability The doctrine of vicarious liability generally operates within the law of torts. It has become well-established in English law and historically has been called “Master and Servant liability,” which clearly indicates the circumstances in which the doctrine becomes applicable in tort law. The general rule in tort law is that a person who authorises a tort will personally be liable for damage or harm as a result. However, vicarious liability defines the circumstances in which a person is liable for the torts of another without express authorisation or ratification. The most common example of vicarious liability is the liability of an employer for the torts of his employees committed in the course of employment. It is not necessary in such circumstances for the employer to have breached any duty that was owed to the injured party, and therefore it operates as strict or no-fault liability. It is possible that the injured party could be either an employee or a stranger, and the employer can be held vicariously liable in both situations. The most important element to establishing a case for vicarious liability is that the wrongdoer be acting as a servant or employee, and that the wrong done be connected to the employee's course of employment. Vicarious liability can only be imposed if it is proved that the employee was acting “in the course of employment.” This criteria is essential, and requires a clear connection between the employment duties and the...
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...Assignment #1 - Electronic Surveillance of Employees Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. The given video case describes the private-sector employers’ surveillance activities. In this point, private-sector employers want to make sure that their business assets are not being violated at any time by anyone. Employers have the right to protect their business success, their finances, their buildings, and all of their equipment. There should be no expectations of privacy at any workplace by an employee. New technology has made it possible for employers to monitor phone calls, emails, and any other information that is being used for the particular company to conduct business. Many companies make all employees sign acknowledgement stating the privacy policy of the company that is legally binding. For instance, the employer may communicate that employees may enjoy privacy in certain demarcated areas of the office. The employee can enjoy privacy in those areas. From a legal perspective employees can reasonably expect privacy in the bathroom and locker room. In such places video monitoring will not be accepted in a court of law. In the office workplace there are typically two types of workspaces, an open area, in which there are several desks and where conversations can be overhead, or an enclosed office, in which—when the door is closed—conversations cannot be heard and where one would expect virtually total privacy. Explain whether...
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