Local Business Lawsuit - Essay Example

Summary of Lawsuit Goodyear Time & Rubber Company, operating a plant in Danville, Virginia was sued by the US Department of Labor for alleged discrimination in hiring personnel during the latter part of the 1990s (Lindsey, 2006). The alleged discrimination was directed against hundreds of female applicants. As a result of such denial, the lawsuit was filed against the company (with headquarters in Akron, Ohio). The lawsuit asked the court to hire the discriminated women, pay for back wages, and provide other benefits due to workers (Lindsey, 2006).

According to the Labor Department, the company implemented a procedure in the hiring and selection of employees from January 1998 to June 1999 that is gender-discriminatory against female applicants at the entry level (Lindsey, 2006). The case stemmed from the routine procedural review conducted by the department’s Federal Contract Compliance Programs in Richmond that showed such discriminatory hiring. The company, on the other hand, strongly denied such allegation. Goodyear, as a federal contractor, is not allowed to discriminate in hiring based on race, religion, color, sex and ethnicity (Lindsey, 2006).

The Philadelphia labor office acting Regional Director Patsy Blackshear said that companies contracting with the federal government must ensure that equal opportunity program is being implemented at the highest level, and that includes discrimination in the hiring process. The complaint was lodged at the Office of Administrative Law Judges in Washington, D.C., the trial court of the Labor Department. Risk Management Risk management refers to the identification of the different kinds of risks that affect an organization that could have an impact upon the business (What is Business Risk, n.d.).

After identifying the risks, probability of its occurrence must be determined. Then, a plan should be devised, and lastly, to monitor the effectiveness of the plan (What is Business Risk, n.d.). The risks that a business may have include physical and environmental risks, financial risks, employee risks (What is Business Risk, n.d.), and several others depending on the nature of the business. In the present case, the risk present involves the internal policy of the organization. By ignoring the equality laws mandated by the government, Goodyear presents itself as vulnerable to litigation risks that may come from the Labor Department or the persons discriminated upon.

As a mitigation action that Goodyear could do, it should ensure that men and women are equally represented in its workforce, no matter where they are located in the US. During the period reviewed by the department, discrimination against women was seen since hundreds of them were not hired in one year while men were continuously absorbed into the labor force. Thus, the Human Resources Department of Goodyear should implement a hiring policy that would make sure that men and women are more or less equally hired within a specific period.

Ethical Considerations The hiring process may be influenced by discrimination on the part of management if not guarded against. Thus, the management must establish a detailed hiring policy that takes into account the civil rights protected by the laws. Ethical considerations refer to doing what is deemed to be right and proper as dictated by society, the code of ethics of organizations, or the best practices. Therefore, doing something against the identified good practices would be unethical for the organization.

The laws applicable in