Overview
For this Performance Task Assessment, you will create a report that tests your research skills and gauges your understanding of criminal law, tort law, contract law, and employment law.
Assessment Submission Length: Four parts, with responses ranging from 375–525 words (5–7 paragraphs), 225–300 words (3–4 paragraphs), 8 slides plus speaker’s notes, and 10 slides plus speaker’s notes in four separate Assessment templates.
Instructions
Before submitting your Assessment, carefully review the rubric. This is the same rubric the assessor will use to evaluate your submission and it provides detailed criteria describing how to achieve or master the Competency. Many students find that understanding the requirements of the Assessment and the rubric criteria help them direct their focus and use their time most productively.
To complete the Assessment, do the following:
- Download the following four templates:
- BU2002_Assessment_Part1_Template.pptx
- BU2002_Assessment_Part2_Template.docx
- BU2002_Assessment_Part3_Template.docx
- BU2002_Assessment_Part4_Template.pptx
- Download the Writing Checklist to review prior to submitting your Assessment.
Important Information on Interpreting the Assessment Rubric (click to expand)
Please note that word count, paragraph lengths, or slide counts are provided as guidelines only. You will be assessed on the quality of your response. Be sure to reference the rubric often.
This Assessment requires submission of two (2) presentations and two (2) business reports. Save these files as BU2002_PartX_firstinitial_lastname (for example, BU2002_Part1_J_Smith). When you are ready to upload your completed Assessment, use the Assessment tab on the top navigation menu.
You may submit a draft of your assignment to the Turnitin Draft Check area to check for authenticity.
Important Note: As a student taking this Competency, you agree that you may be required to submit your Assessment for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted Assessment materials will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such materials. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the Usage Policy posted on the Turnitin.com site.
Assessment: Responding to Questions on Types of Business Law
You are a junior legal assistant for the legal department of XYZ Corporation. The organization has recently undertaken a number of efforts to increase its presence in the local community and is promoting corporate social responsibility and positive social change initiatives. The CEO, Isabella Torres, strongly feels that in order to have the most beneficial effects in the community, the company needs to set a good example by having a workforce that is serious about compliance and adherence to regulations. She is committed to the idea that to “do good,” you have to “be good” in all aspects of the business.
To support these positive social change initiatives and efforts at ensuring compliance among XYZ Corporation’s employees, Kate Braverman, Chief Counsel of the Legal Department, leads the company-wide Business Law and Compliance Fair to showcase some upcoming policy changes and hold Q&A sessions for all staff members. She asks you to assist with the Q&A. If someone’s question requires more details than a short answer can supply, you have been asked to gather the required information and submit it to your department head for review before passing it along to the requestor. There are four people who asked questions that require follow-up.
Click each of the items below for more information on this Assessment.
Part 1: Presentation on Criminal Acts in Business
Janell, a manager in the compliance business unit, asks for help: “I have a group of trainees and we want them to be familiar with different types of business crimes. Most of them understand what normal crimes are, like robbery or murder, but they don’t know what a business crime would be. Could you help clarify?”
Kate asks you to create a PowerPoint presentation that outlines at least six criminal acts that could be committed by a business or employee. For your presentation, you should do the following:
- Define each criminal act, including what is involved in committing the act, as well as one or more specific examples of that type of criminal act.
- Categorize each act as misdemeanor or felony.
- Describe the possible consequences for the commission of each crime.
Part 2: Torts Report
Cameron from the IT department asks the following: “We developed and have been managing an online professional matching service. The marketing department provided us with photographs and voice files of 10 individuals that we thought were safe for use; however, we have since found out that the individuals did not know that their information was going to be published online and made publicly available. They thought the service was going to be private, in a password-protected environment. Since the service went live and the identities were discovered, we have been bombarded with angry phone calls and e-mails from this group. I need to apologize to these people and discuss this further with my boss, but my main question is: Did we violate any laws or has my team exposed the company to possible legal consequences?”
Kate asks you to write a report explaining what went wrong in this process and what tort violations may have been committed. You will need to include any possible legal consequences for the actions of Cameron’s team. You should also include information about the potential negative effects of this breach of customer data on the company’s positive social change initiatives and explain what could be done in the future to prevent this type of situation from occurring again. This report should be a minimum of 375–525 words (5–7 paragraphs) in length and contain at least two references from the Walden Library or other scholarly academic sources.Part 3: Contract Research
Sue is a graphic designer at XYZ Corporation, and she also runs her own business as a photographer. She says, “Sorry, this is more personal, but I hope you can give me some advice. I just entered a contract to photograph the full line of a pottery company, a job that will involve nearly 1,000 photographs. The contract promises excellent pay, with a specific dollar amount stated in the contract, but unfortunately, I neglected to include any payment terms. Can you help investigate this for me?”
Kate approves the request and asks you to help Sue. You will need to research the dangers that Sue might face by not spelling out the terms of payment within her contract. Provide her with a research report on these dangers and recommendations for how to correct this situation, if it is possible. Your report should be a minimum of 225–300 words (3–4 paragraphs) and you should include references to at least two references from the Walden Library or other scholarly academic sources.Part 4: Employment Law Presentation
Kai, who is a manager in the human resources (HR) department, requests the following: “We just hired a small team of HR generalists to help us with our growing number of employees. As our workforce expands, we need to stay on top of matters of compliance, in order to protect the company and to effectively support its positive social change initiatives. Could you assist us with developing training to ensure our new generalists are up to speed on employment law matters, including real-world examples? We have an employee handbook, but we’d like to provide additional training and support for these staff members.”
Kate asks you to prepare a presentation that HR can use for its generalist training. She asks that you create informational slides on the following four areas of employment law: sexual harassment, discrimination, violation of disability rights, and wrongful termination. For each of the four areas, do the following:
- Define each of these areas of employment law.
- Provide one or more examples of possible violations for each area.
- Describe the consequences of violating each area of employment law.
- Provide one recommendation in each area for how employees can stay in compliance with these laws.
As part of your presentation, make sure to include an Introduction slide and a Conclusion slide that incorporates a connection between employment law compliance and the company’s positive social change initiatives. You also need to provide a References slide with a minimum of four references from the Walden Library or other scholarly academic sources. Your completed presentation should include a minimum of 10 slides (not including the title slide or References slide) with speaker notes and appropriate reference citations.
Citing Your Sources Be sure to provide a citation for each source you used when you created your response to this Assessment. A sample citation is provided below: Lussier, R. N. (2017). Management fundamentals: Concepts, applications, & skill development (7th ed.). Sage Publications.