Why might the new SEC pay-ratio disclosure rule cause certain businesses to eliminate low-wage workers? How might the new SEC pay-ratio disclosure rule help shareholders?

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The SEC’s New Pay-Ratio Disclosure Rule

After the financial meltdown of recent years, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. One of the goals of the act was to improve accountability and transparency in the financial system. A brief sectionb in the lengthy bill requires a publicly held company to disclose the ratio of the total compensation of its chief executive officer (CEO) to the median compensation of its workers. For instance, if the annual pay of the median employee is $45,790 and the total compensation of the CEO is $12,260,000, then the pay ratio is 1 to 268. Otherwise stated, the CEO makes 268 times more than the median income for employees.
Five Years in the Making For five years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hesitated to adopt a disclosure rule as mandated by the Dodd-Frank act. The SEC received almost 300,000 comments and issued its own comments on the proposed rule.c The commissioners indicated that they were unsure what potential economic benefits, “if any,” would be realized from making this information public. The SEC has estimated that the regulation will cause companies almost 550,000 annual paperwork hours, plus about $75 million per year to hire outside professionals. Dealing with the New Rule The new rule is 1,800 words long, and managers initially may find it difficult to implement.
Fortunately for them, the SEC realizes that it can only ask for “reasonable estimates” of the CEO-worker pay ratio.
The CEO’s measured compensation includes salary, bonuses, stocks and options, incentive plans, and other compensation. In theory, calculating this amount is fairly straightforward.Calculating the median income of the company’s labor force is more difficult. Note that the median income is not the average income of employees.
Rather, the rule requires the company to identify a “median” employee as the basis for comparison.The rule does give companies flexibility in determining how to identify this median employee. Statistical sampling can be used, for instance. And the rule states, “Since identifying the median involves finding the employee in the middle, it may not be necessary to determine the exact compensation amounts for every employee paid more or less than that employee in the middle.” The rule also permits companies to make the median employee determination only once every three years.
Business Questions

1. Why might the new SEC pay-ratio disclosure rule cause certain businesses to eliminate low-wage workers?

2. How might the new SEC pay-ratio disclosure rule help shareholders

Should ICANN’s actions be judged under the rule of reason or be deemed per se violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act? Why? Should ICANN’s actions be viewed as a horizontal or a vertical restraint of trade? Why?

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Antitrust Law


The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a nonprofit entity that organizes Internet
domain names. It is governed by a board of directors elected by various groups with commercial interests in the Inter–
net. One of ICANN’s functions is to authorize an entity to serve as a registry for certain “Top Level Domains” (TLDs).
ICANN and VeriSign entered into an agreement that authorized VeriSign to serve as a registry for the “.com” TLD and
provide registry services in accordance with ICANN’s specifications. VeriSign complained that ICANN was restricting the services that it could make available as a registrar, blocking new services, imposing unnecessary conditions on those
services, and setting the prices at which the services were offered. VeriSign claimed that ICANN’s control of the regis–
try services for domain names violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Using the information presented in the chapter,
answer the following questions.

1. Should ICANN’s actions be judged under the rule of reason or be deemed per se violations of Section 1 of the
Sherman Act? Why?

2. Should ICANN’s actions be viewed as a horizontal or a vertical restraint of trade? Why?

3. Does it matter that ICANN’s directors are chosen by groups with a commercial interest in the Internet? Explain.

4. If the dispute is judged under the rule of reason, what might be ICANN’s defense for having a standardized set of
registry services that must be use

What is the term for the right of Roche citizens to walk across Shoepke’s land on the trail? What covenants would most courts infer were included in the warranty deed that was used in the property transfer from the Brusters to Shoepke?

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Real Property and Landlord-Tenant Law


Vern Shoepke purchased a two-story home from Walter and Eliza Bruster in the town of Roche, Maine. The warranty
deed did not specify what covenants would be included in the conveyance. The property was adjacent to a public park
that included a popular Frisbee golf course. (Frisbee golf is a sport similar to golf but using Frisbees.) Wayakichi Creek
ran along the north end of the park and along Shoepke’s property. The deed allowed Roche citizens the right to walk
across a five-foot-wide section of the lot beside Wayakichi Creek as part of a two-mile public trail system. Teenagers
regularly threw Frisbee golf discs from the walking path behind Shoepke’s property over his yard to the adjacent park.
Shoepke habitually shouted and cursed at the teenagers, demanding that they not throw objects over his yard. Using
the information presented in the chapter, answer the following questions.

1. What is the term for the right of Roche citizens to walk across Shoepke’s land on the trail?

2. What covenants would most courts infer were included in the warranty deed that was used in the property transfer
from the Brusters to Shoepke?

3. Suppose that Shoepke wants to file a trespass lawsuit against some teenagers who continually throw Frisbees over
his land. Shoepke discovers, however, that when the city put in the Frisbee golf course, the neighborhood home–
owners signed an agreement that limited their right to complain about errant Frisbees. What is this type of promise
or agreement called in real property law?

Now assume that a court finds that the new rule is merely “interpretive.” What effect would this determination have on whether the SEC had to follow the APA’s rulemaking procedures?

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Administrative Agencies

Assume that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a rule that it will enforce statutory provisions pro-
hibiting insider trading only when the insiders make monetary profits for themselves. Then the SEC makes a new rule,
declaring that it will now bring enforcement actions against individuals for insider trading even if the individuals did
not personally profit from the transactions. In making the new rule, the SEC does not conduct a rulemaking procedure
but simply announces its decision. A stockbrokerage firm objects that the new rule was unlawfully developed without
opportunity for public comment. The brokerage firm challenges the rule in an action that ultimately is reviewed by a
federal appellate court. Using the information presented in the chapter, answer the following questions.

1. Is the SEC an executive agency or an independent regulatory agency? Does it matter to the outcome of this dispute?
Explain.

2. Suppose that the SEC asserts that it has always had the statutory authority to pursue persons for insider trading
regardless of whether they personally profited from the transactions. This is the only argument the SEC makes to
justify changing its enforcement rules. Would a court be likely to find that the SEC’s action was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)? Why or why not?

3. Would a court be likely to give Chevron deference to the SEC’s interpretation of the law on insider trading? Why
or why not?

4. Now assume that a court finds that the new rule is merely “interpretive.” What effect would this determination
have on whether the SEC had to follow the APA’s rulemaking procedures?

What must Javatech change in its collective bargaining negotiations to demonstrate that it is bargaining in good faith with the JEU, as required by labor law? Could the seven engineers legally call a strike? What would such a strike be called?

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Immigration and Labor Law


In April 2017, several employees of Javatech, Inc., a computer hardware developer with 250 employees, started orga–
nizing the Javatech Employees Union (JEU). When Javatech refused to voluntarily recognize the union, organizers
petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election. In June, the NLRB conducted an election
that showed that a majority of Javatech employees supported the union. JEU was certified and began bargaining with
management over wages and benefits.
In January 2018, Javatech management offered the JEU a 1 percent annual wage increase for all employees with no
other changes in employment benefits. The JEU countered by requesting a 3 percent wage increase and an employee
health-insurance package. Javatech management responded that the 1 percent wage increase was the company’s only
offer. The JEU petitioned the NLRB for an order requesting good faith bargaining. After meeting with an NLRB rep–
resentative, Javatech management still refused to consider modifying its position. JEU leaders then became embroiled
in a dispute about whether the JEU should accept this offer or go on strike.
New union leaders were elected in July 2018, and the employer refused to meet with the new JEU representatives,
claiming that the union no longer had majority support from employees. In August 2018, a group of seven Javatech
engineers began feeling ill while working with a new adhesive used in creating motherboards. The seven engineers
discussed going on strike without union support. Before they had reached an agreement, one of the engineers, Rosa
Molina, became dizzy while working with the adhesive and walked out of the workplace. Using the information pre–
sented in the chapter, answer the following questions.

1. How many of Javatech’s 250 employees must have signed authorization cards to allow the JEU to petition the
NLRB for an election?

2. What must Javatech change in its collective bargaining negotiations to demonstrate that it is bargaining in good
faith with the JEU, as required by labor law?

3. Could the seven engineers legally call a strike? What would such a strike be called?

4. Would Molina’s safety walkout be protected under the Labor-Management Relations Act? Explain.

Would Lyle’s claim of racial discrimination be for intentional (disparate-treatment) or unintentional (disparate- impact) discrimination? Explain. Can Lyle establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination? Why or why not?

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Employment Discrimination


Amaani Lyle, an African American woman, was hired by Warner Brothers Television Productions to be a scriptwrit–
ers’ assistant for the writers of Friends, a popular adult-oriented television series. One of her essential job duties was
to type detailed notes for the scriptwriters during brainstorming sessions in which they discussed jokes, dialogue, and
story lines. The writers then combed through Lyle’s notes after the meetings for script material. During these meetings,
the three male scriptwriters told lewd and vulgar jokes and made sexually explicit comments and gestures. They often
talked about their personal sexual experiences and fantasies, and some of these conversations were then used in episodes
of Friends.
During the meetings, Lyle never complained that she found the writers’ conduct offensive. After four months, Lyle
was fired because she could not type fast enough to keep up with the writers’ conversations during the meetings. She
filed a suit against Warner Brothers, alleging sexual harassment and claiming that her termination was based on racial
discrimination. Using the information presented in the chapter, answer the following questions.

1. Would Lyle’s claim of racial discrimination be for intentional (disparate-treatment) or unintentional (disparate-
impact) discrimination? Explain.

2. Can Lyle establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination? Why or why not?

3. When Lyle was hired, she was told that typing speed was extremely important to the position. At the time, she
maintained that she could type eighty words per minute, so she was not given a typing test. It later turned out that
Lyle could type only fifty words per minute. What impact might typing speed have on Lyle’s lawsuit?

4. Lyle’s sexual-harassment claim is based on the hostile working environment created by the writers’ sexually offensive
conduct at meetings that she was required to attend. The writers, however, argue that their behavior was essential
to the “creative process” of writing for Friends, a show that routinely contained sexual innuendos and adult humor.
Which defense discussed in the chapter might Warner Brothers assert using this argument?

Critically examine how a service or manufacturing organisation operationalises its strategic objectives, while analysing the role of innovation and digital technology as well as the impact on the operations and supply chain

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Critically examine how a service or manufacturing organisation operationalises its strategic objectives, while analysing the role of innovation and digital technology as well as the impact on the operations and supply chain

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Your Task
You are a consultant who has been employed to advise on the effective implementation of strategic changes. You are required to produce the following for the case study provided below:
Part A: Analysis – Business Process Models and strategy analysis
In this section you should develop
1. A series of at least two Business Process Models, which capture the existing and your proposed business processes. The models should follow the BPMN notation shown in the lecture slides. You can utilise Microsoft Visio, Word, PowerPoint or appropriate alternatives to create the models.
2. Strategic analysis: You should use at least one recognised analysis technique such as SWOT, PESTLE etc
Part B: Open Source Software Comparison Table
In this section, you should conduct research into a suitable software solution. You should decide on the set of characteristics which you will use to evaluate the software and your research should consider 4-5 alternatives in detail. This section should be presented as a table.
Part C: Report
In this section, you should write a report which provides an overview of the current situation together with a roadmap outlining how the proposed changes to the business can be achieved to the benefit of the business. This should draw on your analysis in Part A, include your recommendation for software in Part B, and provide recommendations for ensuring that the strategy is effectively implemented, including consideration of the challenges ahead.
This section should follow standard report structure:
Title Page – Contents – Introduction – Main Section – Conclusions and Recommendations – References.The case study:
Heidi Preston is a sole trader in handcrafted products. She is a creative artist who makes bespoke quilts that are used as bedding blankets, sofa covers, and ornate wall hangings. In addition to creating beautiful quilts, she also teaches classes to handicraft groups which are close to her home. Heidi wants to get more work as a tutor, but also wants to find new ways of promoting her business. She would like to publicise her talents via a website and if possible, deal with booking arrangements for teaching via the internet. At the moment this is always done by telephone. Present clients (usually the leader of a local craft group) makes an arrangement to pay by cash on the day or to send a cheque payment through the post. Heidi wants to appear much more professional and hopefully open up a wider market by providing information, bookings and payment options online. Promotion and online sales of her products is also an area that Heidi is interested in developing.
A business approach/strategy is required. As she is a sole trader, she would be responsible for her own; social media marketing, keeping business accounts, providing an updated calendar of events, and keeping track of the communications between herself and all clients.
Heidi realises that technology will play an important role in the business. She has read about Customer Relationship Management software and Enterprise Resource Management software, but just does not know what kind of digital business technology support she really needs. Heidi requires professional digital business advice before she can make any final decisions about investing funds in business software. Also, she has heard that she may be able to save money by using Open Source Software, but does not understand if there are any implications, so Heidi needs your advice about this too.
Heidi has no technical experience and therefore requires a report that can be easily read and understood. You are the OIM consultant who is responsible for researching this business and providing a consultancy report.

Does maintaining such distinction help the Court to achieve these purposes?

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Please choose ONE question from the two questions below and write a 2000-words essay:
‚In deciding whether a contract can be terminated for breach, or whether the breach merely triggers a right to damages, the Courts have looked at the importance of the term broken as well as the seriousness of the consequences of the breach. This has resulted in the distinction between conditions, warranties and intermediate terms.™

Does maintaining such distinction help the Court to achieve these purposes?
Critically assess this statement and properly support your answer with relevant authorities.

QUESTION 2

Foreseeability is required in establishing a duty of care as well as in evaluating remoteness of damages. Has this standard been applied similarly or differently in these situations? Illustrate your answer with relevant authorities.

2. Please ensure that:

a. The essay has a maximum length of 2,000 words including footnotes.

Not included within the word limit are: the bibliography.
Note that you are not permitted to include an appendix, or appendices, to the essay.

b. Before submitting please make sure:

You have included your student number in each page of your answer.
You have included page numbers.
You have adopted font-size 12 pt font; text double-spaced.
You have saved the essay as a PDF document.