Ethics

Background Information
Wal-Mart is a large retail company that runs superstores and warehouses in several different countries. Its head quarters are in the United States but it has established joint ventures and subsidiaries in foreign countries. Wal Mart was founded by Sam Walton, a renowned businessperson form Arkansan in 1961. Initially, the company adopted a pricing strategy that kept its prices down while maintaining quality of products making it highly competitive. The retail company was first listed in the New York stock exchange in 1970 as a public company. Nevertheless, Wal Marts exemplary business performance and global presence, the company is facing huge challenges in its business operations. Of major concern are the unethical business practices. The company is accused of unfair treatment of employee, vendors and manufacturers.

Wal-Mart is struggling with several challenges in keeping its business operations compliance to expected ethical standards.  The companys business environment is diverse and complex resulting into challenges in employee management, compliance to regulatory standards and legal and ethical complications. These issues have tarnished the companys public image.

Employee management is a critical issue that determines organizational business performance. However, it has emerged that Wal Mart has not put in place strategies to strengthen its employee management. Critics accuse the company of poor workplace practices. The company has been accused of poor employee management tactics. Recently, several interest groups accused the company of firing a senior marketing executive allegedly for violating the companys code of ethics.

Wal-Mart has had numerous challenges with criticism form labor unions, religious groups and environmental agencies voicing their concerns over its unethical conduct. There are allegations that Wal-Mart engages in gender discrimination practices. There has been substantial evidence that Wal Mart practices sex impartiality when dealing with its employees, with some people claiming that female employees do not get equal payments or promotional opportunities compared to their male counterparts. This gender discrimination has led to lawsuits that have cost the company a lot of many and  negative publicity.

Statement of Purpose
This report seeks to evaluate application and enforcement of equal employment and anti-sex discrimination laws with specific reference to the ethical issues that have negatively impacted on Wal-Mart. U.S.  this report  objectively analyses the various powers and roles of  the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC),  the agency  charged with the responsibility of ensuring fair play in work places.  Specifically, the Act that created the agency, that is, Section VII, outlaws any form of sex  gender based discrimination.  The law deals with such issues as seeking sexual favors in work place, failure to ensure that an organization has put in place measures to deal with sex discrimination as well as sex-based harassments. Further, the agency handles pregnancy based discrimination that a mother or expectant women may be exposed to because of her condition.

Scope
The reports scope will entail the general overview  of U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)  and how it enforce equal employment laws.  The areas to be covered include the positive changes that have been experienced in  the labor market since  the creation  of  the EEOC, as well as  the events  that led to the development  of the law. Additionally, the report will look at the specific sexgender discriminations issues and challenges that have been experienced by the Wal-Mart. The cases to be looked at include Dukes v. Wal-Mart as well as the E EOC v. Wal-Mart. The report will thus detail the ways in which EEOC has cracked the whip in exercise of its powers to deal with the errant corporate bodies.  Also, the report will look at the ethical issues that have emerged from Wal-Marts sex discriminative practices and how these issues have affected the corporation. However, the report will be limited to Wal-Marts gender discrimination cases in the US, and not the general corporate sex based scandals.

Preliminary Outline

I. Introduction
A. Background of the Study
B. Statement of Purpose
C. Scope of the Study
D. Limitations of the Study
E. Methods of Research

II. Findings
A.   Creation of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
B. Background to the Agency
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967 )
Age Discrimination in Employment Amendments Act (2008)
C. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission expectations from corporations
D. Wal-Mart failures to adhere to EEOCs age discriminations requirements
E. The impacts and ethical issues of Wal-Marts sex based discriminations
F. Suits against  Wal-Mart in pursuit  of the  Age Discrimination in Employment Amendments Act
EEOC v. Wal-Mart Act
Dukes v. Wal-Mart

III. Conclusions and Recommendations
A. Conclusions
B. Recommendations