Your Kid Has a Snow Day? You're Fired!

The article here recounts this story. The thrust of the article is that the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) needs to be amended to protect workers in this situation.  The article doesn't even mention the employment-at-will doctrine which justifies employee dismissals for any reason or no reason.  The FMLA only applies to employers with 50 or more employees. EAW applies to everyone. The point of advocacy here should be to advocate for emergency child care as an important public obligation within the exceptions to the EAW doctrine.

FMLA basics:



US one of the worst in the developed world when it comes to supporting pregnant women:

Flash! Flash! Speed Trap Ahead!

A federal judge has ruled that a driver's act of flashing lights at oncoming drivers is protected free speech and may not be punished by government. The case comes from the US District Court in Missouri.

Jonathan Turley, a criminal attorney and a professor at George Washington University Law School, said courts across the country are dealing with the same issue. In virtually every case except those still being decided, the person cited has prevailed, Turley said.

While flashing lights might be legal, is it ethical? Who is being helped? What public purpose does it serve? Shouldn't speeders be caught and punished?  If ethics is the communal sense of right and wrong, does it matter if you are a member of the community of drivers or the greater community of citizens of the area - including children, elderly, disabled and non-drivers who are at risk from speeders?  How many times has an innocent driver been injured or even killed because a speeding driver lost control and crossed the center line? You might think that you are helping out a fellow driver, but are you really part of the problem?

Just thinking...

Insurance Sales Songs

Brutal honesty! Watch out for salty language like, "F**k Me!"  You have to cut the guy some slack, he's trying to make a living selling insurance on commission:



Love insurance salesman assisted by barbershop quartet wielding therapeutic canes and field hockey sticks:

Foibles of Federalism; The Legal/Illegal Environment of Cannibus

Marijuana is now either legalized, legalized for medical use or decriminalized by state law in nearly one-half of the United States. However, it is still illegal under federal law. The US Supreme Court determined in Gonzales v. Raich that the powers granted the federal government in the Commerce Clause support federal legislative authority to act. The years since that case have seen troughs and peaks of federal enforcement, promises not to enforce and those promises broken.  Now as businesses begin the  task of selling marijuana under state law, they discover that banks are unwilling to handle their money. Fearful of running afoul of federal law and facing disciplinary action or worse, federally licensed banks are refusing to handle marijuana money that is legally obtained under state law but are illegal proceeds of a crime under federal law. The DOJ recently promised to give banks guidance on how to legally handle this money without risking enforcement action. Banks are skeptical. These are the kinds of policy promises that have been broken before and, of course, are non-binding on future administrations who can prosecute past actions.  So it looks like marijuana dispensary entrepreneurs will be burying a lot of cash in coffee cans in their backyards.  The more things change . . .

Warning: This video includes the word "f**k"


Is this how legal recreational use of marijuana will affect businesses?

Shocking Lack of Ethics in Politics

This story involves a shocking violation of any conceivable ethical standard.  But it involves politics, not business. Once again, if these are the people who make laws, then what hope do we have that they would give a hoot about using law to mandate ethical conduct.

Apparently, Republicans in Florida have made a website that looks like a site for Democratic Congressional candidate Alex Sink.  However, when you click on the button to donate, you are actually pledging money to her opponent.

As reported by The Cloakroom:

The Tampa Bay Times interviews one donor who thought he was giving to Alex Sink's (D) congressional campaign. It even used the same blue and green color scheme as the candidate's official website.
Said the donor: "It looked legitimate and had a smiling face of Sink and all the trappings of a legitimate site."
But he didn't see the small print, which said, "Make a contribution today to help defeat Alex Sink and candidates like her." 

See candidate Sink's actual website, here.  Read The Daily Kos report and see images from the fake site here.  See NRCC website  to defeat Sink here.

Image from Alex Sink's site:


Image from NRCC site:

Politics is Crazy and Politicians Make Law

According to their responses at a recent candidates forum, three candidates for the Republican nomination to run for the US Senate in Georgia would support a resolution to impeach President Obama if they had the opportunity to vote on one.  The most prominent among the candidates is Rep. Paul Broun. Rep. Broun,  was the subject of a post in this blog when, as reported by the Huffington Post, he famously opined:

"God's word is true. I've come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the big bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell," said Broun, who is an MD. "It's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior."

Remember, these people make laws. When studying the Legal Environment of Business, it does a disservice to our student for us to focus entirely on the judicial process while ignoring the legislative process. The AACSB Accreditation Standard #9 requires as part of the Undergraduate Curriculum content:

• Economic, political, regulatory, legal, technological, and social contexts of organizations in a global society (emphasis added)

  We are not so naive as to believe the Civic's Class maxim that the law is insulated from politics. Let's make sure our student get a thorough education as well.

Click here or on image to see video of Broun and others "voting" for impeachment:

27 Amendments in 27 Days

The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia is sponsoring daily spotlights on all 27 Constitutional Amendments.  The series, entitled 27 Amendments in 27 days, began this past Saturday, Feb 1st. Each day's offering includes lesson plans, educational resources and guides.  Perhaps there is something there that you may use in class.