Ethics, Communication, and Legislation

Ethics, Communication, and Legislation

Ethical conduct in the workplace is dictated by a company’s moral compass, which is usually a direct reflection of top management and owners. It includes always doing the right thing regardless of whether one is under supervision. Ethics is often linked to diversity in the workplace as organizations strive to create a conducive work environment for people from different backgrounds and create equal opportunities among employees. Ethics policies are governed by legal regulations and rules, including keeping client information secure or private. Legal regulations prevent organizations from engaging in unethical activities to generate profit. Various companies have aligned their policies and procedures with ethics, communication, and diversity legislation to prevent legal issues that could have long-term negative impacts, such as destroying the company’s reputation. This paper reviews how ethics, communication, and diversity legislation has impacted Apple Inc. and Microsoft and the Equal Pay Act’s effectiveness at eliminating workplace discrimination.

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Impact of Ethics, Communication, and Diversity Legislation

Apple Inc.

Ethics, communication, and diversity legislation have made Apple Inc. set various policies and procedures to maintain information privacy and prevent discrimination. For example, the company requires all its employees to sign an Intellectual Property Agreement that outlines the employee’s responsibility to protect information. Based on the terms of the agreement, employees are prohibited from disclosing operational, confidential, trade-secret, financial, and any other business information without verifying with their superiors whether the disclosure is appropriate. The company has also created a Supplier Code of Conduct based on globally acknowledged human rights as outlined in the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the United Nations’ International Bill of Human Rights. Apple Inc. is dedicated to valuing human rights as outlined in its Human Rights Policy, which is founded on the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights.

The company assesses the suppliers’ compliance with the code and terminates contracts with suppliers who fail to honor it. The code applies to not only suppliers but also their affiliates, subsidiaries, sub-tier suppliers, and subcontractors providing goods and services to Apple or for use within the company. Apple Inc. has also reformed its hiring practices to comply with diversity legislation. Burton (2022) states that 64% of Apple Inc.’s workforce is from underrepresented communities. The company’s recruitment policy states that the recruitment embraces diversity and will focus on promoting the benefits of diversity in all business activities and developing a business culture reflecting its belief in diversity. The company also provides training to its employees to familiarize them with equal opportunities practice. The company also outlines in its recruitment policies and procedures that candidates should only be evaluated based on their qualities, ability to complete assigned tasks, and qualifications and will not accept instructions from clients who intend to discriminate unlawfully.

Microsoft

Microsoft has created an ethics program founded on detection, prevention, and remediation to comply with ethics, communication, and diversity legislation. Prevention focuses on preventing compliance issues from happening by promoting a culture of integrity and ethics. The company achieves this by developing a compliance culture and applying its Standards of Business Conduct training and policies while applying data analytics, risk assessment, vetting third parties, pre-emptive inquiries, and other compliance measures to reduce possible risks. Detection focuses on detecting probable legal compliance concerns in different ways, such as testing the company’s Internal Audit group, monitoring through its Controls and compliance teams and compliance analytics program, examining trends through the company Compliance and Ethics team and investigating ethical concerns.

Further, remediation focuses on evaluating the main cause of problems and frequently enhancing processes and controls to reduce the recurrence of similar risks. According to Microsoft (2022), remediation is a major part of the company’s compliance program and the culture of a growth mindset. The company disciplines employees who do not comply with its standards and policies irrespective of their level and forbids doing business with suppliers and partners who fail to meet its ethical standards. The company has also embraced diversity by meeting the needs of each employee based on their diverse attributes. According to Milanesi (2020), the company has been working on creating a confidential and voluntary survey to enable employees to share personal attributes such as sexual orientation, military status, disability status, and gender identity. The company’s workforce is also diverse in race, age, gender, and ethnic background.

The Equal Pay Act

Pay discrimination is among the factors affecting many employees in the private sector. In some organizations, men may receive higher wages than women despite completing similar tasks and working under similar conditions. The Equal Pay Act forbids gender-related wage discrimination for employees doing the same job at the same establishment (Cross, 2015). The jobs may not be identical but must be equal to closely related job duties. Therefore, job content should determine pay, not the job title. The Equal Pay Act covers overtime pay, life insurance, salary, bonuses, travel benefits and expenses, and hotel accommodation. The Act also provides that when employers are required to adjust a discriminatory difference in pay, they cannot reduce the wages of a higher earner but must increase the wages of the lower earner. The Equal Pay Act has effectively eliminated workplace discrimination by allowing employees to speak up against discriminatory wages. Employees have a right to file an Equal Pay Act suit without straining internal administrative measures. Employees may file the suit within two years from the day they receive the last inequitable paycheck or within three years if there is a willful violation. Employees who file an equal pay claim or help an individual file the claim are protected against the employer’s unlawful retaliation.

The protection extends to unlawful employer retaliation against a person for contrasting employment practices that are discriminatory based on reimbursement or filling a discriminatory complaint, taking part in the investigation in any way, or testifying, litigation, or proceeding under the Equal Pay Act. According to Buckley (2019), unlawful retaliation includes any negative employment action taken by an employer, such as termination or demotion, damaging to the extent that it could dissuade or discourage a rational worker from supporting or making a discrimination complaint. Protecting employees from employer retaliation encourages them to point out discriminatory pay and establish a culture of fair pay and anti-discrimination as employers focus on eliminating any compliance issues because of the heavy fines attached to them and the overall negative impact on their reputation. Employers have also become more cautious in setting wages. The Equal Pay Act has also made employees more concerned about understanding the pay structures in their organizations, comparing the wages and salaries offered by the employer, and identifying discriminatory practices. Employees are also keener on their job descriptions to understand the overall job content and compare the salaries offered to employees with the same job content.

Conclusion

Ethics, communication, and diversity legislation have played a significant role in shaping operations in many organizations. Most organizations have created specific policies and procedures to embrace ethics and diversity. For example, Apple has created the Supplier Code of Conduct and Intellectual Property Agreement, and Microsoft has created a Standards of Business Conduct founded on detection, prevention, and remediation. Organizations must also comply with the Equal Pay Act to avoid legal issues arising from gender-based wage discrimination. Although some ethics and diversity legislation, such as the Equal Pay Act, are applicable in many countries worldwide, organizations need to research existing legislation in their area of operation to avoid legal issues that could ruin their reputation and sustainability.

References

Buckley. (2019). Equal Employment Opportunity 2020 Compliance Guide. Wolters Kluwer.

Burton, A. (2022). Apple is hiring more women and underrepresented minorities into leadership. Protocol. https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/apple-diversity-inclusion-2021.

Cross, S. (2015). The Equal Pay Act, fifty years on. Nova Science Pub.

Microsoft. (2022). Legal compliance and ethics. Microsoft Legal. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/compliance.

Milanesi, C. (2020). Microsoft’s diversity & inclusion 2020 report renews commitment and redirects focus amidst the pandemic and social unrest. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinamilanesi/2020/10/28/microsofts-diversity–inclusion-2020-report-renews-commitment-and-redirects-focus-amidst-the-pandemic-and-social-unrest/.a:link {text-decoration: none;}a:visited {text-decoration: none;
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Unit 6 Assignment
Attached Files:
File HRM305 Unit 6 Assignment and Rubric.doc HRM305 Unit 6 Assignment and Rubric.doc – Alternative Formats (50 KB)
Due midnight Sunday

Ethics, Communication, and Legislation

In our Unit 6 assignment, you will examine how ethics, communication, and diversity legislation have impacted three large companies and compare and contrast diversity legislation that is designed to protect against workplace discrimination.
Refer to the attached document for full details and the grading rubric.