Posted by Joseph Ng.

Within the article “Facebook moderators say company has risked their lives by forcing them back to the office” they mention several factors regarding business law. The main points of this article is that Facebook is forcing its employers to work during the pandemic in office spaces that are not safe due to COVID-19. The article mentions “ In several offices multiple COVID cases have occurred on the floor.” The position that is speaking out against Facebook are content moderators whose main purpose is to make sure all the post on Facebook does not have any graphic content such as self-harm, child abuse and more. This type of speech is not allowed even though the first amendment of the constitution allows freedom of speech however, this is unprotected speech since it violates criminal law, fighting words and defaming speech under constitutional law. Facebook requires these people as their software is not able to scan through all the post being posted daily so, they have looked to outsourcing companies to provide them with the content moderators.

The main business law topics that Facebook breaks are the ethical side of business. Facebook most likely wants the content moderators to work during this type to continue to generate profit. It follows the principles of utilitarianism and break corporate social responsibility which is that the corporation should have a responsibility to the citizens, employee, stakeholders and community to be ethically social and responsible for their decisions and is only concerns is about the outcome. They most likely has done a cost-benefit analysis where it takes into account around how many workers will get sick from working in the office and  how much it will cost to take care of them versus the amount of profit they will generate for the company. One worker wrote “After months of allowing content moderators to work from home, faced with intense pressure to keep Facebook free of hate and disinformation, you have forced us back to the office.” As you can see many of the content moderators are unhappy with the decision Mark Zuckerberg has made.

In my opinion Facebook should let their employees work from home as they have a lot of money and those workers are under a lot of stress. They have to view many disturbing content daily as part of their jobs to help keep the company from further legal actions such as, if they let this type of content be posted out it could influence  other kids to participate in those activities or, have a negative influence or, emotional disturbance causing emotional trauma and possibly legal actions such as a tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress. Facebook thirst for money could be its downfall as the company disregards their own employees feeling for greed. As the laws are relatively new compared to other laws due to the late explosion of the internet and social media platforms it is most likely that there will continue to be legal problems as they wander into new territory of the internet and legal system as they adapt to the changing times of technology.

Joseph is a biology major at Seton Hall University, Class of 2021.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/18/facebook-content-moderators-urge-mark-zuckerberg-to-let-them-work-remotely.html

Posted by Matthew DeFalco.

In the Fox News article, “Google ad costs, not its alleged monopoly, irks businesses”, we learn that the United States Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against technology giant Google. The company is being sued for “anticompetitive behavior” when it comes to advertising and online searching. Unfortunately, this is actively taking place as the company’s dominance over online searching and advertising is growing by the minute causing harm to rival companies and consumers. This is because Google is allowed to charge ridiculous prices for advertisement due to the of the monopoly they hold—which is devastating many small businesses. Lastly, the article states that “ The more a company can pay, the more likely it will get a prized spot in search results” (p. 3) which prevents small businesses from being able to compete with these multi-million dollar companies. This article provides an inside look at what is actually happening to small businesses and what needs to be done to stop this anticompetitive behavior.

The writer gives insight from Bryan Clayton, a CEO of a small company, GreenPal, which helps homeowners find landscapers. Clayton noted that startups do not “have a million-dollar advertising budget” which makes it extremely difficult for owners to promote their business without giving a huge sum of money. In my opinion, I find that there is no reason as to why advertisements on Google should be so expensive, and I agree with the Justice Department for suing for anticompetitive behavior. This type of behavior means that there is no room for competitors when Google is controlling 90% of global internet searches. While this is great for Google’s bottom line, it is devastating to small businesses that cannot allocate millions of dollars for advertising.

With advertisements running between $50,000 and $100,000, Google is leaving business owners two choices: pay up or shut down. It is the unfortunate reality as our virtual society leaves small businesses who cannot afford advertisements in the dust. Something needs to be done, and it needs to be done quickly in order to prevent Google and other big corporations from getting even bigger than they are today. This is why it is essential that the court follows through with its suit and holds Google accountable so that small businesses have the opportunity to reasonably purchase advertisements which is proving to be a necessity in order to survive in our current society.

Matthew is an accounting and finance major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2023.

LINK: https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/google-ad-costs-not-its-alleged-monopoly-irks-businesses

Posted by Nicole Gizzi.

California Governor Gavin Newsom rolled out restrictions to residents regarding the thanksgiving holiday. Initially, he and the California Department of Health defined that gatherings such as “social situations that bring together people from different households at the same time in a single space or place” would be banned. Also, he required that the host of any private gathering to limit attendance to no more than three households and the duration to no more than two hours, along with hosts ensuring guests gathering only outdoors and promote physical distancing, frequent handwashing or sanitizing and the use of masks or face coverings. He announced there would be a travel advisory for visitors leaving and entering their respective states ahead of the holiday due to cases of COVID-19 spiking in the area. He had pleaded with his residents to avoid social gatherings that mix households. This order also urges people against nonessential travel and asks residents of the three states to quarantine for 14 days after arriving from out of state.

Cody Wolfe, a country singer, blasted Newsom’s orders on Twitter tweeting out: “Hey @GavinNewsom as a new California resident. I live in a condo. So therefore, I cannot have my Thanksgiving outside, but it is okay I am coming over to your place to spread some holiday cheer all over your dining room table. Oh, and as by legal right of the US constitution I’m not wearing a mask as I deem it to be unlawful and unconstitutional, you should be impeached for committing treason.” (Manfredi 7-8)

On November 6th, 2020, it was reported that Newsom was spotted at an outdoor party at French Laundry, an upscale restaurant in Napa Valley on November 6th. The birthday party was for political adviser Jason Kinney that had at least a dozen attendees. He put out a statement the same day stating, “While our family followed the restaurant’s health protocols and took safety precautions, we should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner.” (Conklin 2) He took wide criticism for this given the hefty amount of orders he is set to put in place for the Thanksgiving holiday.

More to follow.

Nicole is a Financial Technology major and Cybersecurity, Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University Class of 2023.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-newsom-birthday-party-thanksgiving-limitations

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/celebrities-rip-californias-gov-newsom-over-coronavirus-thanksgiving-rules

Posted by Dante James.

We all know that technology and robots will be the thing of the future, but we are not sure how close or how far that future is. Lots of people imagine the future being controlled by artificial intelligence and that humans will become obsolete to these pieces of metal. As we develop more and more, day by day, we fear that robots will completely takeover and control what we do starting from small tasks, moving to taking jobs, then completely having their own lifestyles. Walmart has already taken a step towards that future when they signed a contract with Bossa Nova Robotics. However, that contract was ended recently due to information gained by the well-known retailer.

“Walmart Scraps Plan to Have Robots Scan Shelves” by Sarah Nassauer, is an article that discusses why Walmart designed to pull out of the contract that they have signed with Bossa Nova Robotics. Walmart is an American national retail corporation that wanted to try to get the edge on its competitors by using artificial intelligence to get the job done. But the company soon realized that compared to the teens and young adults that worked and scanned the shelves like the robots, the teens actually matched up or did better than most. The article states that, the “retailer ends contract with robotics company after seeing similar results from workers grabbing online orders during pandemic”. We all know that the pandemic has been tough for everyone, and that 2020 itself has also been an extremely tough year, and the fact that these workers are able to keep up with robots during a time like this makes it even more amazing. Not to mention the additional problems that employees have to face such as engaging with customers, mental and physical health issues, and just real-world problems that the robots will never encounter. All in all, on a good day these workers may and/or will perform better than robots.

In conclusion, this article is basically a straightforward read with facts, information, and statistics on the comparison of the robots working in relation to humans working. I believe that no matter ho far we develop with technology we will never be replaced or taken over. I think that just because we are human and have a natural connection to one another, we would never allow the world to be run rampant by robots.

Dante is a business major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2023.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/02/walmart-ends-contract-with-robotics-company-bossa-nova-report-says.html?&qsearchterm=contract

Posted by Qi Zhou.

In an article by Aaron S. Applebaum, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference Case Problem Series: Eagle Technologies, describes the bankruptcy case of a fictitious sports equipment company founded by former professional football players “Carson” and “Fletcher.”

Carson and Fletcher retire from lucrative professional football careers and decide to go into business for themselves. They form Eagle Technologies, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, in which Carson and Fletcher each hold 50% membership interests.They perceive an untapped market for improved football helmets. Carson creates new helmet designs while Fletcher looks for funding. Carson soon realizes, however, that without medical training, he cannot tell if the new helmets are actually safer. Investors suggest Carson and Fletcher invest their own money into years of R&D, and come back when they have a product ready.

Carson and Fletcher confer and decide to turn to Plan B. Instead of designing new helmets, they will duplicate an existing design and find a way to build it more cheaply. Carson gets a computer hacker to steal proprietary designs from a chief competitor, Giant Helmets, Inc., and Fletcher develops contacts with companies overseas who can develop components to mirror the stolen designs at a fraction of the cost incurred by Giant. They take their “new design” and supply contracts to an institutional lender, Cowboy Bank, N.A. Cowboy sees potential, and signs a letter of intent to loan $100 million to Eagle, secured by substantially all of Eagle’s assets and personally guaranteed by Carson and Fletcher.

Eagle submits its design to the patent and trademark office, and Fletcher bribes the patent office to obtain approval. With patent and apparent CPSC preliminary approval in hand, Cowboy funds the loan and Eagle is off and running. Eagle puts the stolen designs into development, and by outsourcing all components of the equipment, Eagle easily undercuts Giant and all its other competitors. and successful business.

Unfortunately, Giant sues Eagle, Fletcher and Carson for patent infringement, conversion and a host of other civil causes of action. Eagle also finds itself as a target of multi-district class action litigation, as the cheap foreign parts were poor substitutes for the quality components usually used in Giant’s helmet designs, and football players started experiencing worse and more frequent brain injuries than ever before. To top it off, the Federal Government commences criminal prosecution against Carson, Fletcher, Nelson and Kelsey as questions arise concerning Eagle’s CPSC approval process. Eagle’s mounting legal expenses put a strain on liquidity, and Eagle misses two scheduled loan payments to Cowboy.

Qi is an accounting major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University.

Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference Case Problem Series: Eagle Technologies

Posted by Miguel Mendez Perulles.

The managers of Tyson’s largest pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa, were alleged to have been betting on the amount of reported COVID-19 cases within the plant. Since the allegations came out these supervisors have been suspended as investigations, lead by former US attorney general Eric Holder, continue. The CEO of Tyson Foods has come forward and stated that he is “extremely upset” about the allegations, commenting that if these claims were to be accurate, then new practices would be implemented to solve this problem. Tyson has not yet disclosed the names of the managers involved in these allegations.

Allegedly, one of the plant managers by the name of Tom Frank “organized a cash buy-in, winner-take-all betting pool for supervisors and managers to wager on how many employees would test positive for COVID-19.” Demonstrating extreme negligence in his role as a supervisor during the COVID-19 pandemic. This betting allegedly began last spring, during which more than one-third of the plant workers became infected. Managers at the plant pressured employees to continue working even if they demonstrated COVID symptoms. One of the plant managers, John Creasy, allegedly told the employees that the virus was “no big deal,” even calling it a “glorified flu.”

Mel Orchard is the Plaintiff’s attorney representing: Sedika Buljic, Reberiano Garcia, Jose Ayala Jr., and Isidro Fernandez. This case has also gained support from The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union,” which has condemned the actions of Tyson’s Waterloo plant. Governor of Iowa Kim Reynolds commended the Waterloo Plant for implementing proactive safety measures. The Iowa OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) stated in June that they had found zero violations in their April 20 inspection. Tyson Foods requested the case to be dismissed after the plaintiffs could not prove the employees became infected at the plant.

Miguel is an accounting and finance major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2024.

Works Cited

Foley, Ryan J. “Tyson Suspends Iowa Plant Managers amid Virus Betting Claim.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 19 Nov. 2020, https://apnews.com/article/iowa-tyson-plant-managers-virus-bet-law-f9a4556fdd253a7ae1787039e248879a

Posted by Nicole Caldera.

A recent article from CNBC News states that Tyson Foods, one of the United States’ leaders in the pork plant industry, has suspended employees for allegedly betting on how many of their workers will contract Covid-19. These allegations came about after a worker filed a lawsuit against Tyson Foods because his son died from contracting Covid-19 at the Waterloo Plant back in April. This worker was upset to see that people were betting on how many workers would get sick, and he then filed a lawsuit stating that the company was allowing sick people to continue working and not following the state Covid-19 prevention guidelines, therefore creating unsafe conditions for employees to work.

After an interview with the company, CNBC News claims that the lawsuit filed states, “Covid-19 infected more than 1,000 employees out of about 2,800 at the plant, and five died.” The suit centers around the fact that Tyson continued to allow sick workers to work during their most severe outbreak in April. This was most likely how the worker’s son contracted Covid-19. Since Tyson, did not follow the guidelines, five of their workers died and now that they are taking bets on how many workers will contract the virus. This negatively impacts the company’s reputation indicating that they are not taking the pandemic seriously.

Since the Waterloo Plant is the largest producing pork plant in the United States, they were not able to shut down completely. Tyson’s manager decided to work with former United States Attorney General, Eric Holder, to conduct an investigation and provide a proper response. In response to the allegations, Tyson is suspending employees who participated in the illegal betting, making sure that the Waterloo plant enforces all of the basic Covid-19 safety guidelines, and not pressuring sick individuals to come to work. With the help of Eric Holder, these guidelines should be enforced and hopefully prevent the spread of Covid-19 in major workforces.

Nicole is a marketing major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2023.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/20/tyson-foods-suspends-employees-after-lawsuit-alleges-managers-bet-on-workers-catching-covid.html

Posted by Kangyi He.

According to this current news story, the governor of California signed a law on corporate boardroom diversity. The news mainly presented that “hundreds of California-based corporations must have directors from racial or sexual minorities on their boards under a first-in-the-nation bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom(California governor signs corporate boardroom diversity law).”There is no doubt that there are two sides to any action. On the one hand, there will be strong supporters. On the other hand, there will also be some people opposed.

Firstly, such diverse business legislation has been enacted in previous years, but this year California will force some companies to hire female directors and promote racial equality and diversity. Supporters say the new business law goes a step further in racial equality, and that all corporate boards in California now better reflect equality, despite previous efforts at the leadership level to eliminate implicit bias. For businesses, racially diverse boards are more advantageous than those lacking diversity. This measure showed a fact that “by the end of 2021, the more than 660 public corporations with California headquarters must have at least one board director from an “underrepresented community,” according to the measure(California governor signs corporate boardroom diversity law).” It is meaningful and important for a company to have different opinions on its board of directors. According to the opinion of the only official opponent in the legislative analysis, “he objected that that bill, coupled with the existing diversity law, would make it more desirable for corporations to pick women who also are members of the underrepresented communities to simultaneously meet both sets of quotas, to the detriment of men or women who do not meet the qualifications in the new bill(California governor signs corporate boardroom diversity law).” In other words, this measure may damage other people’s rights.

In conclusion, the law in the business has played a win-win role. On the one hand, it has greatly promoted racial equality among corporate directors and endowed people of different races with more equal business status. Secondly, the diversification of the board of directors is conducive to the comprehensive development of corporate culture, decision-making, policy, operation, and leadership, injecting fresh ideas into enterprises and promoting the development of business.

Kangyi is an accounting major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2021.

Work Cited

“California governor signs corporate boardroom diversity law.” Fox Business, October 1. https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/california-governor-signs-corporate-boardroom-diversity-law

Posted by Dongsheng Xu.

According to an article published on Fox News on September 15th: McDonald’s franchises in Idaho have been punished in 11 locations for violating the child labor law.

According to Labor department, the operator and owner of the franchisee: Darmody Enterprises L.T.D，violated the local labor law. According to the article: “Darmody allowed its employees, ages 14 and 15, to work shifts that lasted longer than three hours, or extended beyond 7 p.m. on school days. On non-school days, the franchisee allegedly allowed its workers who fit that age range to stay on the clock for more than eight hours. The alleged violations were made at locations in Meridian, Boise and Nampa.”

This incident reflects that some businessmen ignore the law for money, and the idea of ​​money first is a very serious problem. It is very inhumane for them to hire children under the age of 16 to work continuously for 3 hours for short-term benefits. Facing the allegations by the Ministry of Labor, Darmody Enterprises L.T.D wrote in an email statement that they will compulsorily conduct training for employees in order to comply with laws and regulations. These will not change the fine he faces.

I think that companies and operators in all walks of life should always abide by child labor law. Because the work intensity of all walks of life in society is different, sometimes child labor cannot bear the work pressure, and they are overloaded every day, putting child labor in a painful situation, which is physically and psychologically devastating. Child labor law are beneficial to protect the lives and health of minors; to protect the right to education of minors and to promote the implementation of education; to improve the quality of minors and to contribute to the prosperity of all walks of life in society. This typical business behavior that does not comply with the law should be severely punished by the law, and McDonald’s should also strictly audit franchisees, and should not ignore this review, so as not to damage the company’s reputation.

Dongsheng Xu is an accounting major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2021.

Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/idaho-mcdonalds-child-labor-law-violations

Posted by Nicholas Minikel.

The quote from Charles Colton can be easily applied here because Warren Lotas was almost exactly copying Nike shoes. The problem here is how truly similar the shoes are because it is so obvious that Warren Lotas is copying Nike because they put a Nike logo on their own shoe. Nike is a brand that is willing to engage in Lawsuits to defend the brand. This includes defending themselves and not giving and dealing with issues outside of court rooms as well as dealing with issues inside court rooms. This issue is a perfect example of when Nike is simply unwilling to let an issue go. Nike is willing to engage in lawsuits with some of the best athletes in the world including Kawhi Leonard and if they are willing to do this then no lawsuit is out of bounds for them. The issue of stealing the looks of shoes is extremely important because the quality of a Nike shoe compared to its competitors is almost nothing. However, what helps separate Nike from other companies is its ability to make fascinating shoes. If Nike were to allow competitors to steal the look of their shoes the business could lose a lot of money. This lawsuit is important for Nike because it needs to show its competitors that if they steal the looks of a Nike shoe they will be sued for a lot of money. “Nike is seeking three-times the damages incurred, profits from Lotas’ sales, and reimbursement of lawsuit and attorney fees” (Jones 1).

The result of the case is that Lotas can no longer gain brand recognition and profits off of the Nike imitations and must stop selling them immediately. As well “ $10K bond has been issued and Warren has 30 days to file in compliance of the court’s ruling”(Sensarma 1). The reason why the court did not rule for everything Nike wanted was because the court did not believe that the damage Lotas committed against Nike was as much as Nike was suing for. This case will probably have to go to court again as right before the case went to court Lotas made two more Nike imitations that were not involved in this case. They have profited again off Nike and Nike will probably have to show them a lesson again.

My opinion on the case is that the court did not strike down hard enough against Lotas. The punishment of essentially do not do this again is not hard enough. Lotas probably made a lot of money and they stole the looks of Nikes shoe even down to the logo on the shoe. They should at the absolute least ne required to pay back the profits they made off the shoe. Many people just bought the shoe from Lotas because it looed the same as Nike except it was cheaper from Lotas. As well clearly, they did not learn their lesson because they released more Nike imitation shoes. As well they should pay the lawyer fees for Nike since Nike was forced to defend their brand against Lotas. Lotas still would have walked away the winner in this situation because their brand was boosted by so many people the Nike imitations that they will likely shop at Lotas again.

Nicholas is an accounting major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2023.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/nike-suing-warren-lotas-over-164348765.html