Business ethics and legality

Crayon

I recently started working for a company that has this as its core values and is printed and documented:

Do unto others, as you would have them do unto You.
Ten Commandments.

But here is the odd one:
Equal Opportunity

They seem to kind of clash. I mean, is it perfectly legal for a company to state such things in their business statement?

DirtyDirtyVagrant

As long as they aren't involved in politics or governmental affairs, it's pretty much up to the investors and the higher ups.

KalTorak

Mmmm off the top of my head it's probably legal. With a private company you've got a certain amount of freedom. Now, if they start discriminating against employees or applicants for religious reasons, then you might have something, but just saying they like the Ten Commandments doesn't strike me as being illegal (unless it's a government-funded agency or something).

Hahnsoo1

"Core values" mean nothing other than fancy things you can put into banners and pamphlets to impress clients. From the sound of it (unless you provide more information), there's nothing legal/illegal about what they have stated. I'm not sure what the ethical dilemma is here, other than putting some cheesy Judeo-Christian sentiments in a meaningless document alongside a business term.

It also depends on what they define as a "value" and how "Equal Opportunity" fits into that. Do they mean "Equal Opportunity Employer" or "Equal Opportunities for climbing the corporate ladder" or what?

kaliyama

Crayon wrote: »

I recently started working for a company that has this as its core values and is printed and documented:

Do unto others, as you would have them do unto You.
Ten Commandments.

But here is the odd one:
Equal Opportunity

They seem to kind of clash. I mean, is it perfectly legal for a company to state such things in their business statement?

there's no law against printing it, but if management people adhere to those core values, then i think people of other faiths have a pretty colorable claim that they are being treated differently b/c of their religion (they have to compromise their own religion by acting in accordance with the 10 commandments, whereas christians don't have to)

JHunz

kaliyama wrote: »

Crayon wrote: »

I recently started working for a company that has this as its core values and is printed and documented:

Do unto others, as you would have them do unto You.
Ten Commandments.

But here is the odd one:
Equal Opportunity

They seem to kind of clash. I mean, is it perfectly legal for a company to state such things in their business statement?

there's no law against printing it, but if management people adhere to those core values, then i think people of other faiths have a pretty colorable claim that they are being treated differently b/c of their religion (they have to compromise their own religion by acting in accordance with the 10 commandments, whereas christians don't have to)

Oh come on, the only two that matter at all in a business context are "you shall have no other gods before me" and "you shall not make for yourself an idol".
Things you do not have to worry about on work days: the Sabbath
Things you definitely shouldn't be doing at work anyway: killing people, committing adultery, stealing, coveting your neighbor's wife.
Things you could do at work but probably shouldn't: coveting your neighbor's possessions, dishonoring your father and mother.
Things you probably don't do if you're not a Christian: Take the lord's name in vain.

DrFrylock

It may depend on what state you're in. For example, if this business is in California, the Unruh act prohibits discrimination based on religion for all businesses (public or private). However, you'd likely have to show some sort of harm, specifically that the business did not provide "the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services..."

I suppose, barring any other bad behavior, that under such a statute you could argue that the 10 commandments (specifically, oh, the first one) help to create a climate of repression or something, but you'd likely have to argue it in court, and it would be an uphill battle.

We know, for example, that In-N-Out Burger and Chik-fil-A operate unmolested in California, and neither one of them makes a strong effort to hide the Christian core of the company (In-N-Out prints bible verse numbers on all of its paper utensils).

Elin

I'm not christian so I'm not defending a faith but really and honestly it's a good principle for a company to run under. Just because the place where they got it has a religious context doesn't mean it's not a valid concept. Remember that your customers are people and treat them as you want to be treated. Unless the company actively refuses to hire people of non christian beliefs or puts questions of religious affiliation on their applications they aren't doing anything wrong.

Hahnsoo1

There's a huge chasm between printing out "values" on a paper and discrimination. What they may be saying is "We have Christian values, but we also equally respect all other religions and views" in writing Equal Opportunity alongside Ten Commandments. Also, the golden rule isn't exclusively Judeo-Christian, as variants of it exist in most world religions and cultures.

What we need is a context and more information, because otherwise, it's gross speculation.

bowen

If they used it as the company's moral compass and fired you because of it? You could probably sue them.

It's shady to be there, however I don't see anything particularly illegal about it.

IANAL, YMMV.