Automobile Workers vs Johnson Controls Inc Case Study

Automobile Workers vs Johnson Controls Inc - Case Study Example Eight employees of a battery manufacturing company who were pregnant exhibited increased lead quantities in their blood – more than what OSHA approves to be a considerable amount (Rehnquist, Kennedy, & Scalia, 1991). The company later barred all women from working in lead related departments except those who could not have children, though after passing clinical tests to ascertain their conditions. This prompted a group of employees to file a case in the District Court. They argued that the policy discriminated against the female gender and violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Rehnquist et al., 1991). The District Court and the Court of Appeal granted the respondents a summary judgment on grounds that their fetal protection policy is reasonably necessary to further the industrial safety concern. The petitioners claimed that excluding fertile women from lead-exposed jobs, the respondent's policy creates a facial grouping based on gender besides marginalizing them under 703(a) of Title VII (Rehnquist et al., 1991). They claimed the policy is not neutral because it does not apply to males despite evidence that lead exposure poses great harm to their reproductive system. They cited that provided that the fertile women performed their duties as expected, the company has no right to segregate them. However, the respondents argue that they are concerned about the other coming generation’s status regardless of the law exclusively being for the parents (Rehnquist et al., 1991). Ethical Issues Is the company in line with professional work ethics and fair gender opportunities law by passing the policy discriminating fertile and infertile women from working in the lead related departments? No, the company does not satisfy its expected moral and ethical standards as required in the society by passing a policy that stigmatizes the female gender. Additionally, it also violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that protects all genders fro m discrimination. By so doing, the company would be creating a facial categorization that utilizes gender to segregate women (Rehnquist et al., 1991). The policy is not neutral and fair to both genders and how lead affects them either. According to the company, lead affects only the female gender despite concrete evidence that it poses adverse effects on the male reproductive organs. The law also cites that unless the pregnant employees differ from others in their expertise, they must all get both equal treatment and opportunities (Rehnquist et al., 1991). In addition, legislative history and case law bar an employer from discriminating against pregnant women or their pregnancy capacity unless their condition prevents them from performing the expected duties. The employees’ fetuses are neither customers nor employees whose safety is a concern of the company’s management (Rehnquist et al., 1991). In this context, the respondents should get rid of their policy as the fem ale fertile employees participate in manufacturing lead batteries similar to other peers. Alternatives Would getting rid of the policy of the company not tarnish the company’s image and still keep the fertile female employees’ comfortable working for the company? Yes, this move by the company would motivate fertile females in the company besides prompting them to work more comfortably and harder than before. This would also be a means of enhancing good publicity of the company in the society because the policy adheres to the female discriminatory law, which contradicts with business ethics (Rehnquist et al., 1991). However, by taking this move, the company would be putting the fetus, the fertile mothers and their future families at great risks. This is because lead exposure to fertile women

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT (Facility Design) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT (Facility Design) - Essay Example Another consideration to keep in mind in facility design is the management of equipment replacement or its maintenance to comply with business continuity plans (Meyers & Stephens, 2004). There are instances where facility design also includes working with the landscape of the infrastructure to maximize the space. This is mostly true in facilities where the cost of real estate or usable space is expensive however, business operations and logistics consideration mandate that they work within the infrastructure. From a management perspective facility designs should provide operational efficiencies that would assure more production output. The facility design of a printing and enveloping facility of a billing service company will be examined. The primary focus of the analysis is to ensure that wastage in terms of time and product routing are not only exposed but quantified. However, health and safety factors including business continuity considerations will also be taken into considerati ons to ensure that the optimum design is being followed or not. The flexibility of the components of the facility will also be examined to determine their efficacy when it comes to their function. Attached is the rough drawing of the facility design using blocks to represent the major equipment in the facility. Given the nature of their business, the company name and location will be kept confidential for security reasons. Printing and Enveloping Facility loading area for bills for delivery and loading area for raw materials Postal Area Segregation Section Paper Cooling and Staging area for enveloping Print Paper and Envelop storage area. Evaluation and Analysis After the processing of the image of the bill in the computer, the generated file will be printed using the high speed laser printers. After the bill has been printed the bill forms will be staged and cooled at room temperature to prevent warping at the inserting machine. Once cooled the inserting machines will cut and fold the bills and put them into envelops together with promotional inserts if there are any. The inserted bill will then be segregated by their area to determine the amount of their postage. The posting machines will then mark each bill for postage. The segregation process will also segregate the bills that are faster and cheaper to deliver through a delivery service. The rest of the bills will be sent through regular postal mail service. The bills generated through this process are the customers of the clients of the mailing service that opted for printed bills instead of email or electronic bills. The areas to consider in the analysis of the facility design are the materials used and how they are affected by each of the process. An example of this is how the papers are heated by the printing process which makes it very pliant. This makes it difficult to cut and fold the bills for it to be properly inserted in envelops. Since this is a real concern it makes sense for air conditioners t o cool the staging area after printing before they are inserted into the enveloping machines as indicated in the facility design. There are only two printers as against three inserting machines since the printer is much faster than the enveloping machines. The printers also generate a lot of heat that it makes sense to have more air coolers in