Spears School of Business

Speakers from across the world will be featured in the Business Ethics and the Future of Work symposium Feb. 23-24. The Center for Legal Studies and Business Ethics (CLSBE) in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University is cohosting the online symposium with the Center for Ethics, Diversity, and Workplace Culture (CEDWC) in the Fox School of Business at Temple University and the American Business Law Journal.

 

Societal, economic, cultural and public health challenges and opportunities over the last decade have altered how workers around the world view their work and the workplace. The #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, the global pandemic, innovations in technology and artificial intelligence and a resurgence of labor organizing have led to many companies reviewing ethical business practices as they impact employees and the modern workplace.

 

Organizations across industry sectors must contemplate hybrid work spaces, demands for corporate social responsibility and calls for an equitable and inclusive workplace culture. While industry professionals are contemplating these large-scale changes, there is a need for legal and ethics research to help guide this conversation. This online symposium aims to generate a broad range of discussion that develops thought leadership around business ethics and the future of work in this new reality.

 

“Our Center is excited to cohost this symposium, which includes a range of experts from different disciplines all contributing to an intellectual exchange of ideas on this important issue, especially since part of the CLSBE’s mission is to promote interdisciplinary research in legal studies and business ethics,” said Laurie Lucas, director and Chair in Business Ethics, Center for Legal Studies and Business Ethics, and associate professor of legal studies.

 

The symposium is being organized and hosted by Lucas, Leora F. Eisenstadt, Murray Shusterman Research Fellow Director at the CEDWC, Temple, and Susan Park, editor-in-chief of the American Business Law Journal.

 

Here are the scheduled speakers:

Thursday, February 23

Panel 1

Moderator: Jeffrey Boles, ABLJ Senior Articles Editor

Author: Kabrina Krebel Chang, Boston University—Could Gender Quotas Lead the Way to Quotas for Disabled Persons?

Discussant: Stacy Hickox, Counsel, Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch, P.C.

 

Author: Gary Gold, Whittier College—The Affirmative Action Conundrum: The Balancing Act to Reach Racial Equality in Employment Equilibrium

Discussant: Dawn Bennett - Alexander, University of Georgia (Emeritus)

 

Panel 2

Moderator: Jeffrey Boles, ABLJ Senior Articles Editor

Author: Robert Sprague, University of Wyoming—Employee Deviance: An Ethical Response to Excessive Employer Surveillance in Light of Minimal Work-Related Legal Protections

Discussant: Ariana Levinson, University of Louisville

 

Author: Julian Jonker, University of Pennsylvania—Online Speech and Workplace Neutrality

Discussant: Orly Lobel, University of San Diego

 

Friday, February 24

Panel 3

Moderator: Rob Landry, ABLJ Articles Editor

Author: Andrea Giampetro-Meyer, Loyola University Maryland—Transforming the Future of Work for Corporate Social Justice

Discussant: Benedict Sheehy, University of Canberra

 

Author: Courtlyn Roser-Jones, The Ohio State University—The “Skimm” on Paid Family Leave

Discussant: Julie Manning Magid, Indiana University

 

Panel 4

Moderator: Rob Landry, ABLJ Articles Editor

Author: Lauren Valastro, Louisiana State University— Deciphering the Legal and Ethical Landscape of Cryptocurrency Investment in Employer-Sponsored Pension Plans

Discussant: Carol Goforth, University of Arkansas

 

Author: Miriam Weismann, Florida International University—How The “Great Resignation” and COVID Unemployment May Revolutionize ESI and Access to Healthcare

Discussant: Joshua Perry, Indiana University

 

Panel 5

Moderator: Ruth Jebe, ABLJ Articles Editor

Authors: Norman Bishara, University of Michigan & Stephen Park, University of Connecticut—Climate Change and a Just Transition to the Future of Work

Discussant: Dimitris Stevis, Colorado State University

 

Author: Christopher Dinkel, OSU—U.S. Public Opinion on Noncompete Law: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment

Discussant: Jeff Lingwall, Boise State University

 

Panel 6

Moderator: Ruth Jebe, ABLJ Articles Editor

Author: Elizabeth Kennedy, Loyola University Maryland—ESG & L: Labor Rights for the Sustainable Workplace

Discussant: Robert Bird, University of Connecticut

 

Author: Debbie Kaminer, CUNY Baruch—Religious Accommodation, Undue Hardship, and the Question of Colleagues

Discussant: Lucien Dhooge, Georgia Tech University