Case Study 4.8 and 6.6

Need one page each for case study from attached ethics textbook

4.8 Case Studies
In his blog the spot, author Z raises two questions about people receiving
unemployment paychecks. Both are laced with suspicion of fraud. First, people
who are collecting unemployment checks are required to show they’re at least
trying to get a job, but Z writes that some are “showing up for interviews in
jeans and t-shirts.” Then he asks, “Do these people really want the job, or are
they just showing up to say that they are actively seeking work?”Business
Ethics Workshop, accessed May 12, 2011, http://businessethicsworkshop.com/
Chapter_4/Unemployment_fraud.html.
He goes from there to a second critical point. “Some people,” Z says, “are
collecting unemployment checks even though they’re actually working.” What
they do is turn in their unemployment form listing the days they worked, and
those are deducted from the check they receive. That sounds OK in the abstract,
but, he adds, “The problem is that these people who are ‘on call’ are not taking
shifts that are offered to them. Those shifts don’t get deducted from their
unemployment. So, while there are people who are actually unemployed,
struggling and looking to find work, there are Union employees sitting at home
deciding when they do and don’t want to come in. And collecting
unemployment.”
From the posting’s response section, here are two contributions:
1. It’s not easy for me to swallow that my taxes are supporting people
who could be working.

Case Study 6.6
An Internet posting carries a simple Q&A thread: someone’s searching for a
good upholstery shop in Maryland. An unexpected answer comes back from
Fenny L: criminals. A local jail has a job-training program for their inmates and
they contract the men at $1.50 per hour.Fenny L., April 7, 2009, “Searching for
good upholstery shop in MD,” accessed May 17, 2011, http://www.yelp.com/
topic/gaithersburg-searching-for-good-upholstery- shop-in-md.
The responses to the suggestion are intense and all over the place, but many
circle around the ethics of the numbingly low wage, leading Fenny L to
introduce a new thread. Here are the three main points she makes.
• While I object to slave labor…at the same time, I don’t see this as
slave labor. If I wished to become a professional uhhh…upholsterer
(what do they call themselves?!?) I would need to spend money on
the classes and etc. The Dept of Corrections doesn’t charge the
inmates for these classes—thusly, I don’t see a problem with only
paying the inmates $1.50 for their work.
• Also, we use free/cheap labor ALL the time…in the form of Interns.
Interns are often paid nothing, or extremely little—because they
want the job experience…that is their compensation. In turn, I feel
that the inmates are getting job experience so that they can earn
an honest living once they get out.
• Finally, I think that the Dept. of Corrections has to make the wages
obscenely low—because let’s be honest…how many people would
feel comfortable with having a convict in their home to do work?
The only way they can be competitive and offer the inmates this
opportunity, is to make it worth the consumer to utilize them—by

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