Course Announcements

Lesson 4

Mon, 22 Sep 2014 08:51:27 -0400

In Lesson 4 and Chapter 9 you will learn about Contracts.

A Contract is a promise between two parties which the law recognizes as a duty and gives a remedy if there is a breach.

The elements to a contract are:

1. Agreement – which includes an offer and acceptance.

2. Consideration – which needs to be legally sufficient and bargained for – something of value.

3. Contractual Capacity – which requires that both parties be competent and capable of entering into a contract.

4. Legality – the contract must be for a legal purpose and not against public policy.

Each of these elements will be covered in more detail in the text.

You will also learn about the various types of contracts such as bilateral and unilateral; formal versus informal; and express versus implied.

In addition you will learn about the enforceability of contracts. Such as when a contract is void meaning a valid contract but can be avoided by either party, when a contract is unenforceable meaning it is legally deficient and when a contract is void meaning there was never a contract in the first place.

Finally the text will cover when voluntary consent to enter into a contract may be lacking because of the legal concepts of mistake, fraud, undue influence or duress. A contract cannot exist in these circumstances because there is no true agreement between the parties because one or both parties are unclear of the terms.

Your assignments this week including the following:

Choose from one of three employment situations and draft either an employment letter or employment contract including the terms you believe should be included in the letter/contract for that type of business. Also explain why you chose the terms you did in the contract and if there was something in your lessons that caused you to include a particular term in your agreement/contract please explain why. Post the agreement/contract and the explanation to the discussion forum. This assignment is due by Sunday, September 28, 2014 at Midnight Eastern Time.

Further by Sunday October 5, 2014 Midnight Eastern Time please provide feedback to one of your classmates' employment agreement/contract and whether you believe the terms they have included will work in the business they have identified. If so why and if not why not? The specifics of this assignment can be found on the Lesson 4 Activities Page.

Team Two will also be required to submit their Business Ethics Discussion Forum. Please re-read the detailed instructions on the Lesson 2 Activities Page. The Team can work through this process in the Team Planning Discussion Forum. This space is private to your team, but is open to review by me, your instructor. The detailed requirements of the discussion forum are listed on the Lesson Two Activities Page. The Team Two post is due by Midnight Eastern time on Sunday, October 5, 2014.

Looking ahead the rest of the class will be asked to participate in the Team Two discussion forum during Lesson 5.

As always if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me through the Angel email system.

Sincerely,

Desiree Fapore Fralick

Lesson 3

Mon, 15 Sep 2014 13:04:02 -0400

In Lesson 3 and Chapters 21 and 22 you will learn about Employment Relationships and Employment Discrimination.

In the Employment Relationships chapter you will learn about employment at will and the exceptions to that based upon contract law, tort law and public policy.

In addition you will learn about the wage and hour laws governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act which include the child labor laws, minimum wage and overtime. You will also learn about the laws that govern layoffs and the Family and Medical Leave Act.

This chapter also covers worker health and safety laws such as OSHA and worker’s compensation; income security which includes social security, medicare, retirement plans, unemployment compensation, COBRA and group health plans. Finally in this chapter you will learn about employee privacy rights.

In Chapter 22 – Employment Discrimination you will learn about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This chapter covers topics such as intentional and unintentional discrimination and discrimination based upon race, color, national origin and religion.

You will also learn about constructive discharge, sexual harassment, discrimination based on age and disability. Finally you will learn about defenses to employment discrimination that can be used by the employer and affirmative action.

Your assignments for this lesson include a quiz and labor law writing assignment. The details for each assignment are included on the activities page for Lesson 3. Your quiz and labor law writing assignment are due at Midnight Eastern Time on Sunday, September 21, 2014. Please be sure to submit your work timely because your grade is affected if the submission is late.

In addition Team One is to monitor the discussion regarding their ethics video and the remainder of the class is required to engage in that discussion by responding to at least one of the questions posed by Team One.

As always if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me through the Angel email system.

Sincerely,

Desiree Fapore Fralick

Lesson 2

Tue, 09 Sep 2014 20:53:41 -0400

In this Lesson you will be learning about business ethics and social responsibility. Following your reading of the Course Commentary and Chapter 4 of the text you will be asked to submit a post to a discussion forum.

You are being asked to make two arguments, the first that it is always ethically responsible to maximize profits and the second that is it not always ethical to maximize profits. Each post should be 150 to 250 words. Use the ethical theories that you have learned in this lesson to support your position. After making your initial post you need to respond to one of your classmates' initial posts. Your response should comment on your classmates thought process and theories used. The initial posts will be worth 3 points and the reply post is worth 2 points. Your posts need to be on time, grammatically correct and thougthful in your argument.

In addition Team One will also be required to submit their Business Ethics Discussion Forum. Your team is tasked with leading a discussion forum on ethics for the class. This is accomplished by your team seeking and finding a video from youtube, Tedtalks, etc. that deals with a business ethics issue. You are then to post the video to the discussion board inclidng a paragraph on why the video was chosen by your team. Using the contents of the video as well as the information you have learned through the ethics chapter in your text and the course commentary, develop 5 provacative questions to lead the discussion forum. The Team can work through this process in the Team Planning Discussion Forum. This space is private to your team, but is open to review by me, your instructor. The detailed requirements of the discussion forum are listed on the Lesson 2 Activities Page.

If there are any questions, please do not hestiate to contact me through the Angel system.

Sincerely,

Desiree Fapore Fralick

Course Introduction and Lesson One

Tue, 26 Aug 2014 21:08:13 -0400

Course Introduction

Read through the Course Commentary for the Course Introduction and complete the introductory assignments by Midnight Eastern Time Sunday, September 7, 2014.

The Course Commentary can be found under the Lessons Tab on the left hand side of the screen in Angel.

I would recommend getting the introductory assignment completed by Sunday, August 31, 2014 and moving on to the Lesson 1 assignments to assist in managing your workload in the upcoming weeks.

Lesson One

In Lesson 1 you will be learning about the various business forms including Sole Proprietorships, Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, Limited Liability Companies and Corporations.

You will learn the differences between the types of businesses, the tax treatment of each type and the liability protection that each offers.

In addition you will learn how each type of entity is formed and the documentation requirements of each.

You should read Chapters 17, 18 and 19 in your text as well as the Course Commentary online to be ready for the Quiz and Business Form assignments.

Your quiz and business form assignment are due at Midnight Eastern Time on Sunday, September 7, 2014. Please be sure to submit your work timely because your grade is affected if the submission is late.

If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me through the Angel email system.

Sincerely,

Desiree Fapore Fralick