Final Assignment

Dracca sold much of its feeding equipment line to a ; retailer known as Baby Boutique (BB). BB was a partnership formed between ; friends Beth Brown, Silvia Gray, and Valerie White. BB was behind on its ; payments and owed Dracca over $500,000 for delivered feeding equipment. Eventually, ; Dracca sued BB and obtained a judgment for $500,000 in Dracca’s favor.

The board of directors for Dracca decided to seek ; enforcement of the judgment against Silvia Gray, acting on a tip that Ms. Gray ; had just inherited a large sum of money and that the other partners had no ; personal assets. As it turned out, Ms. Gray had sufficiently dispersed her ; inheritance money and did not have the funds to pay the judgment. Dracca ; incurred substantial attorney fees in attempting to collect its judgment from ; BB.

The accounting manager overseeing the BB account had been ; with Dracca for 20 years. His name was Martin Long, and he started with the ; company as a part-time bookkeeper. Long received numerous positive job ; evaluations over the first 15 years with the company, and he was promoted ; several times until he reached his current position of accounting manager five ; years ago. Long and his ; life partner, Will Short, receive medical, dental, and life insurance benefits ; as part of Long’s employment package with Dracca.

; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Long reported to the Director of Accounting, Mary Smith, who recently came onboard to Dracca from another company. ; Smith took away a good portion of Long’s responsibility and froze his pay. ; She was heard to say, “This company does not need to be burdened with paying for same-sex marriages.” ; She posted Bible verses in the breakroom and had a screensaver that read, “Marriage is between a Man and a Woman.” ; ; Long quit under the new working conditions.

One of Long’s subordinates, Kate Katz, reported ; Long’s treatment to the EEOC. ; Kate was an ; at-will employee who had been with Dracca six years. ; In response to the EEOC report, Dracca fired ; Kate.

The sales department was charged with hiring new ; salespeople for its feeding equipment line to generate more retail and end-user ; customers. ; May Hernandez was the lead ; salesperson for the line, and was responsible for making the final hiring decisions. ; May interviewed thirty candidates for six ; positions, and hired only women with children, stating that women, as mothers, ; made better salespeople for the line. ; ; After this hiring session, Dracca noticed a significant decrease in male ; applicants.

In light of these facts, please respond to the following ; questions using course material and credible outside research to support your ; findings. Please submit findings in a three- to five-page paper using APA ; format.

• Can Dracca seek to recover from Silvia Gray ; individually on the judgment for BB partnership? Why or why not? Use legal ; principles from the readings to support your findings.
• Using the Business Judgment Rule, did the board ; of directors fulfill its duty of care to shareholders in suing Silvia Gray ; individually for the BB judgment? Why or why not?
• Can Long sue Dracca for employment ; discrimination? Can Long argue constructive discharge in this instance? Use ; legal principles and case law from the readings to support your conclusions.
• Can Dracca fire Kate? ; Why or why not? ; Will the court consider any claims of ; retaliation in this instance?
• What are the legal and ethical ramifications for ; Dracca from Hernandez’s action in hiring only women? ; Can it be argued that being a woman with ; children is a bfoq for the position? ; Why ; or why not?
• What actions (internal and external) do you ; recommend to Dracca to remedy the ethical and legal considerations of this ; scenario? Be specific and detailed, and be sure to base recommendations on ; relevant legal and ethical principles.

Name your document: ; SU_MBA5005_W3_A3_LastName_FirstInitial.doc.

Submit your 3- to 5-page Microsoft Word document