Ethisphere News and Commentary Blog

News & Events

Boeing and Airbus Work to Improve Airline Industry CO2 Levels

April 30th, 2008

Though the two transatlantic rivals may be bitterly fighting for the rights to a U.S. government contract, Boeing and Airbus do see eye-to-eye on one critical issue: cutting the carbon dioxide emissions from their planes. Both companies are aggressively working towards developing

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News Corp Subsidiary Allegedly Hired Hacker to Develop Piracy Software

April 28th, 2008

EchoStar Communications, the parent company of DISH Network, filed a corporate espionage lawsuit against News Corp’s NDS Group, alleging that the firm hired one of the “two best hackers in the world” to hack into DISH’s satellite network and steal the company’s security codes, according to a report by Reuters. NDS, which provides various […]

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Alleged Stripper Price-Fixing in the Land Down Under

April 17th, 2008

More proof that price-fixing can take place in any industry: the owner of Adult Fire, an Australian company that puts on various X-rated strip shows for men and women, sued two of its Sydney rivals, Bombshells and Sex Bomb Promotions, for price-fixing. Sadly for Adult Fire the case was “quickly dismissed” after Bombshells and […]

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Oilman Sues BP and Others Over Alleged FCPA Violations

April 16th, 2008

The CEO of Denver-based Grynberg Productions is trying a new strategy to escape possible FCPA violations: suing a bunch of his rivals. This month Jack Grynberg, the eponymous chairman of the oil company, sued British oil company BP, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward, Former BP Chief Executive John Browne, Norway’s Statoil and others, accusing […]

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South Africa Cracks Down on Possible Food Industry Cartel

April 9th, 2008

The South African Competition Commission decided that there have been so many reports of price fixing involving producers of bread, milk and other food items that they’re just going to go ahead and probe the entire South African food industry, according to a report by sabcnews.com. The Commission will focus primarily

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Tesco Sues Thai Dissenters for Speaking Out Against Its Expansion in Thailand

April 8th, 2008

A Thai Member of Parliament (MP) and a newspaper critic face millions of dollars in damages and significant prison time after being sued for libel by Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, according to a story by the Guardian Newspaper. Both were sued for saying that Tesco, known as Tesco Lotus in Thailand, is expanding […]

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Jury Awards Ex-Kelly Employee $6.5 Million for Religious Discrimination

April 7th, 2008

A former Kelly Services employee, Lynn Noyes, was awarded $6.5 million by a Sacramento federal jury on Friday after suing the company for reverse religious discrimination. She argued that a less qualified employee earned the manager position that she was seeking because he was a member of

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Naturalized U.S. Citizen Caught Allegedly Attempting to Give Trade Secrets to China

April 4th, 2008

Who says random airport searches don’t work? United States customs officials discovered that Hanjuan Jin, 37, a China-born U.S. citizen, was allegedly trying to leak confidential trade secrets from her former U.S. employer to a China-based rival when they searched her luggage at

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UK Employees Now Protected From Customer Sexual Harassment

March 31st, 2008

A new law in the United Kingdom will protect employees from sexual harassment beyond just coworkers and bosses, now extending to “customers, suppliers and others they encounter in the course of their work,” according to a story in the UK’s Guardian. Well, technically the punishment still goes to employers if they are aware of […]

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3M Misrepresents Size of Tape

March 31st, 2008

Thanks to a settlement announced last Thursday, 3M Company will have to change the labels of their tape products and pony up nearly $700,000 for allegedly misrepresenting the physical dimensions of their tape by six percent. 3M was accused of mislabeling its products by Fresno, California’s Division of Measure Standards, which brought suit against

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Man Recieves 24 1/2 Year Sentence for Conspiracy to Give U.S. Defense Secrets to China

March 27th, 2008

A whopper of a sentence came in on Monday for the Chinese-born engineer who last May was convicted of conspiring to hand over U.S. military secrets to China. Chi Mak, 67, was given 24 1/2 years for smuggling top secret data, acting as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S., attempting to violate export […]

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Employee Fined $13,000 for Drunken Hacking

March 25th, 2008

Indiana resident James M. DiBlasio woke up to more than a hangover the morning after a three-day drinking binge. At some point during the 72 hours that he was drunk he managed to hack into the Denver-based server of his employer, Ski.com, and change various data such as flight reservations and contact information. […]

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Starbucks Takes Heat for Tip Sharing Policy

March 13th, 2008

Tipping is an activity so fervently argued and debated in the United States that entire books have been published on tipping etiquette. Those who have worked for tips argue for it, those that haven’t argue against it, and both sides tend to leave the debate unsettled and more angry than when they started. […]

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Stryker Finds New Trouble, This Time for FCPA Violations

March 11th, 2008

Last year Stryker Corp came under fire for illegal payments to U.S. doctors. This year, that might be topped. The company announced in an SEC filing last month that it is being investigated by the Department of Justice for “possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” While not many specific details […]

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“I Want to be a Whistleblower When I Grow up”

March 4th, 2008

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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Bahrain Metal Company Accuses Alcoa of Bribery and Fraud

February 28th, 2008

Alcoa was sued yesterday by Aluminum Bahrain BSC in a U.S. federal court for allegations of overcharging, fraud and bribery. Aluminum Bahrain BSC, better known as Alba, says it was overcharged by Alcoa for alumina (pictured), a key ingredient in creating aluminum. The company says it paid excesses of about $65 million per […]

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Flowserve Pays $10.6 Million for Abusing Iraqi Oil-for-Food Program

February 26th, 2008

Will there ever be an end to the Oil-for-Food abuses? Flowserve Corporation announced last Thursday that it will pay nearly $10.6 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice for violating the United Nation’s Iraq Oil-for-Food humanitarian program. A Dutch and French-based subsidiary of the company, Flowserve […]

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Germans Evade About 30 Billion(Euro) in Taxes Each Year

February 21st, 2008

The large percentage of Germans that regularly avoid taxes isn’t terribly surprising, considering the nation’s top income tax rate is 45 percent and the tax laws are notoriously confusing, according to Bloomberg. Nevertheless, the problem is huge for the country and getting worse. The issue is making a lot of headlines right now, […]

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The Motley Fool talks about Ethisphere and the 100 Most Influential…

February 20th, 2008

A recent article in The Motley Fool discussed Ethisphere’s 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics 2007. The article touts Ethisphere’s list as an easy way to find socially responsible businesses. And this is true. Ethisphere’s rankings continue to grow in popularity and are becoming a measure of success for leaders who believe that ethics […]

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Labor Department Proposes Changes to FMLA Regulations

February 15th, 2008

On February 11th, the United States Department of Labor announced its proposed changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) - changes that have been in the works for quite some time. For those unfamiliar with the act, it was brought about in 1993 and permits workers to take unpaid leave for serious […]

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68 Million Reasons Why You Want to Report Bad Behavior

February 8th, 2008

Seven years ago H. Dean Steinke, a rising employee and former district sales manager for Merck, put his career on hold by blowing the whistle on his former employee’s unethical marketing practices. Today, his conscience finally paid off when Merck agreed to pay $671 million to settle accusations of overcharging government programs such as […]

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Ex-Wellpoint CFO David Colby’s Firing for “Non-Business Nature” Clarified

February 6th, 2008

One day you’re labeled the “best health-insurance chief financial officer for each of the past four years” by Institutional Investor, the next you’re frantically texting “ABORT!!” to one of your many girlfriends/fiancees, hoping that your double life isn’t discovered. Such is the life of ex-Wellpoint CFO David Colby. Colby allegedly carried on relationships […]

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Alpha Mining Systems Wins $19.7 Million from Trade Secret Theft

February 4th, 2008

A Florida man has been found guilty of dishing out company trade secrets from his former employer, Alpha Mining Systems, to competitors. Alpha, a global manufacturer of industrial mining tires, won a $19.7 million judgment against Sam Vance, the company’s former sales and marketing manager. The judge ruled that Vance gave competitors more […]

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Mattel is Recovering from Toy Recall

February 1st, 2008

Remember all those Mattel toy recalls last year? Apparently it didn’t cripple the company as much as some experts predicted. The Motley Fool posted an interesting article yesterday on the tenuous recovery of the company. Mattel’s fourth-quarter earnings are up 15% over last year, and the stock price - still drastically

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Lahmeyer International Loses World Bank Support because of Connection with Lesotho Highlands Water Project

January 31st, 2008

The World Bank announced it won’t be giving any more money to Lahmeyer International after the company was found guilty of bribing officials responsible for lending contracts for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, a multi-billion dollar operation. The German engineering firm was found guilty of fraud by the government of Lesotho and fined

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