Thank goodness, I'm finishing this academic block on Friday night - with a presentation. It's been a long, difficult block, being compounded by our Managmeent Ethics Class of the last month and a bit.
I'm presenting the landmark US Supreme court Case of Johnson Controls, Inc. (JC), one of the world's largest manufacturers of automotive interior systems, automotive batteries and building control systems.
A primary ingredient in battery manufacture in JC's 16 plants are lead, the occupational exposure of which pose serious health risks, especially to a fetus carried by a female employee. The company introduced a Policy barring all women, except those that could medically prove that they were infertile, from jobs involving actual or potential exposure.
On the one side, JC had a responsibility towards shareholders to maximize profits, and towards the community to provide jobs and pump money into the community through churning out profits. JC had to rid itself of the liability pregnant employees posed, while providing a safe, risk-free working environment.
On the other side, the JC Policy was directly in violation of Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, whereby discrimination based on sex, race, color or religious preferences are prohibited.
So what to do?
The case went through several courts, before final verdict went against JC. However, it provided me with some fascinating presentation material and a case to test my Ethics Models and Theory against.
1 comment:
Well written article.
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