The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business Master - Essay Example

DWI Leisure Group: Civil Rights Issues and Recommendations The purpose of this report is to address recent threats and acts of violence against "The Queen of The Nile Casino", its employees, and its patrons. Any recommendations must be considered in light of legal precedents established pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Atlanta Motel, 1964 & Katzenbach, 1964). This report will address the relevant legal issues, some important ethical considerations, and conclude with some recommendations to this unfortunate situation.

As an initial matter, it must be conceded that DWI Leisure Group is almost certainly bound by the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As explained by the United States Supreme Court in Atlanta Motel v. United States, the purpose of the Act was that,All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, or national origin (1964: np).

The main issue was whether there was a valid Congressional interest in preventing the disruption of interstate commerce. The Supreme Court found that transient guests needed accommodations and that the restriction of accommodations to blacks was a very real disruption to the interstate travel of black citizens and therefore of interstate commerce. Our casino offers accommodations, indeed it is part of a larger group which is dependent on interstate commerce in order to sell our products and services, and it therefore falls within the scope of interstate commerce.

In addition, many of our Arab customers are, in fact, transient guests. Any recommendation that encourages discrimination or segregation would almost certainly violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Even our restaurants are covered by these prohibitions. In Katzenbach v. McClung, the United States Supreme Court held that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applied to small local restaurants where the food purchased and sold was involved in interstate commerce (1964: np). In short, although primarily characterized as a casino, the business offers both accommodations and restaurants which fall within the scope of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Other legal arguments have been made in attempts to avoid the application of the Act, such as the 5th Amendment provisions against "takings" and the 13th Amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude. Both of these arguments have been dismissed; indeed, the Supreme Court labeled the 13th Amendment argument "frivolous." The casino is located on an interstate waterway, it serves a great number of transient guests, and there is no real legal option of barring or segregating Arab-Americans or people of Arabic national origins.

There are also some very important ethical issues to consider. These ethical issues, termed the redress of "moral wrongs" by Justice Clark in Atlanta Motel (1964: np), support the notion that DWI Leisure Group ought not to concede to these threats in any shape or form. The violence is not being perpetrated by the casino's customers. They are not making threats. Nonetheless, the casino has a number of ethical duties. First, there is a duty to respect the rights of all customers. Second, there is a need to protect the personal safety and the property of the casino's employees.

Finally, there is an ethical obligation to confront the types of threats and violence that have arisen. In the final analysis, given the aforementioned legal and ethical considerations, the DWI Leisure Group should pursue the following courses of action. First, it should issue public statements of support for the casino. Second, the support of the United States Attorney General should be sought. This type of blackmail, potentially, affects larger dislocations of interstate commerce. Casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, for instance, could be future targets for this sort of extremism.

FBI involvement should be demanded publicly and office space set aside for them on the casino's premises. Third, security should be enhanced for both customers and for employees. These enhancements should include both upgrades in the number of security officers and in less overt forms of surveillance. DWI must resist this blackmail by responding both publicly and forcefully. ReferencesATLANTA MOTEL v. UNITED STATES, 379 U.S. 241 (1964). FindLaw for Legal Professionals. 30 August 2006. KATZENBACH v.

McCLUNG, 379 U.S. 294 (1964). FindLaw for Legal Professionals. 30 August 2006. .