Two weeks ago, in the last edition of Ethisphere Magazine we rated and ranked the ethics programs of some of the largest U.S. government contractors. IBM was
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Becoming a whistle-blower is now a financially sound career move, thanks to the UK’s Office of Fair Trade (OFT). The British watch dog announced last Friday that it will offer as much as £100,000 for information leading to the discovery and dismantling of illegal corporate cartels. The OFT will offer the rewards for […]
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Bankrupt Northwest Airlines Corp., in the process of laying off employees and cutting others’ salaries as it prepares to exit bankruptcy, published a booklet with a series of money saving tips. Included were suggestions that some employees found offensive, such as that included such suggestions as shopping in thrift stores, taking “a date for a […]
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Detlef Federsohn of Austria missed prison so much after his release that he tried to break back in. Police spotted Federsohn on the roof of the prison he was released from trying to sneak back in to enjoy the luxuries of a caged life. Federsohn said, “Life is so much easier on the inside. They […]
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The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has demoted two senior Arkansas wildlife officers for illegally hunting turkeys without a license in Tennessee. Game and Fish Director Scott Henderson said that Major Jerry D. Woodson, assistant chief of enforcement for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and Wade Spence were demoted. Spence, a six-year game and […]
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Popstar Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie have been lobbying the U.K. government and nuclear industry over a scheme to clean up radioactive waste with a supposedly magic Kabbalah fluid. The couple, both followers of the Jewish spiritual movement, approached Downing Street, Whitehall and British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) promoting a “mystical” liquid tested in a […]
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This summer at the Ottawa marathon, Amos Tirop Matui of Kenya was the first to cross the finish line with a time of 2:10:32. However the wild cheers that greeted him soon turned to confused anger when it was discovered that he was part of a group of 14 runners who missed a turn in […]
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Two Chinese officials got drunk and cut off power to a hotel after they were not invited to its opening party and forced managers to drink spirits before they would turn the electricity back on. The two officials, who were subsequently fired, said they would lessen the power outage by one hour for every bottle […]
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Identity thieves posed as home owners in order to sell the bungalow of an elderly Canadian immigrant who fled Hungary for Canada in 1957 to get away from communism. Paul Reviczky, 89, was left hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket when his home was sold without his knowledge by thieves who had stolen […]
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The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro became the fourth major city worldwide (after Mexico City, Tokyo and Cairo) to mandate female-only cars during rush hour–to guard against gropers and sexual harassment. However, many consider the law a major step backward for women’s rights. A new law mandates a separate car for women during rush […]
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In a ruling celebrated by corporate travel planners globally, the Hawaii Supreme Court has ruled a golfer may not be held liable for mistakenly hitting another golfer with an errant golf ball. In a unanimous decision, the court upheld a lower court ruling to dismiss Ryan Yoneda’s lawsuit against Andrew Tom, whose wayward ball hit […]
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On June 1st, two masked robbers walked into Dillons in Wichita, Kansas one morning at 6:30 am, forced their way into the cashier’s cage and demanded money. But there was a problem with their master plan, the cashier recognized one of the robbers as an employee of the grocery store. Sure enough, the dutiful employee […]
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A caddy wins a sexual harassment suit against the former owner of a golf club who made fun of him for losing two matches to a woman. Delalio Associates was ordered Eugene Palumbo $34,000 for the 2003 and ensuing ridicule which the EEOC deemed to be sexual harassment. The manager of the club apparently posted […]
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Investigators in Grand Junction, CO are dealing with what may be an unusual case of check fraud. A 37-year old man reported 12 checks missing from his check book and said he was worried they might have been written without his permission. The man also told investigators he might be liable because he has multiple […]
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Kevin Crandall, a North Stonington CT man who was struck by lightning while building a stone wall and mistakenly declared dead by EMTs is suing, claiming that lack of treatment at the scene left him with brain damage. Emergency medical technicians from the Stonington Volunteer Ambulance Corps determined Crandall was dead and covered him with […]
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Workers at a British factory making French fries were evacuated for two days last week after bomb parts turned up in potatoes imported from France and Belgium, the site of battles in World War 1 and 2. Canada’s McCain Foods owned plant, the world’s largest producer of frozen fries, was emptied after a worker spotted […]
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The future of the state’s plan to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a private investment group hinges on grammar and punctuation. Lawyers for a group trying to block the Indiana Finance Authority from leasing the toll road and the state argued before St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Michael Scopelitis over exactly what the Legislature […]
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A Taco Bell in Westlake, Ohio has been the target of three dine-and-dash crimes over the past few months, according to police reports. Officials say the man runs between the drive-through window and the waiting driver of a car and grabs the bag of food. The suspect is described as a tall white man, who […]
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An emergency radio station in Washington state mistakenly warned that a massive, volcanic-caused mudflow was headed from the flanks of Mount Rainier and that listeners in the Washington State valley below should rush to higher ground. Emergency officials in communities around Mount Rainier routinely test the system that would, in the event of a real […]
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A major Japanese TV network has apologized to almost 160 people who were struck with vomiting and diarrhea after following a weight-loss plan it broadcast. The Tokyo Broadcasting System’s May 6th show introduced a diet of rice mixed with white kidney beans that had been roasted for about three minutes and ground into powder. The […]
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For the second Ethisphere issue in a row, we have to report a large corporation’s CEO being forced out by the Board of Directors for violation of their own company’s Standards of Business Conduct. This month it was Lynn Davenport, CEO of NYSE-traded government contractor, Maximus, Inc. who engaged in an improper relationship with a […]
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Anyone following the news (and our newsletter) will know about IP rights going crazy and companies becoming more aggressive in staking out areas (perhaps a proactive defense?). In this environment that is certainly defensible but it can lead to unintended consequences of humor. For example, last month Motorola even filed a patent application for a […]
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Doesn’t it seem like everyone and his brother sues GM? Now you can add an FBI agent, who is suing GM and the dealer that sold him his pickup truck for product liability due to smoke filling the cab when the engine was running and he had “somehow lost consciousness”. Las Vegas firefighters pulled him […]
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In an interesting approach to “stamping out bribery and corruption”, the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Football Association, Fanny Amun, announced last month that it would now be allowable and acceptable for referees to accept bribes from teams, as long as the bribes did not influence their decisions. According to Mr. Amun’s helpful guidance: “Referees should […]
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The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has fined Pennsylvania-American Water plant $25,000 after a fluoride spill. The spill at the water treatment plant introduced highly elevated levels of fluoride into the drinking water supply. Pennsylvania Utility Commission report concluded the 600-gallon spill was caused by a plant operator rigging a pumping control.
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