Abstract $-$ Tyson Foods

Source $$ Business Ethics Case Analyses $$ by Heather Salazar

Tyson Foods INC is the second largest corporation that processes meat like pork, chicken and beef. The company was founded in $1935$ and was based off of Arkansas.

The most recent controversy in $($November of $2020)$ that the company has been in$,$ is that one of the managers at their meat plant location in Iowa has place a cash in betting pool amongst employees to see how many workers would get diagnosed with COVID$-19.$ According to CNN there is allegedly one thousand positive cases for COVID, and five deaths with a total of three thousand employees at the Iowa meat plant location.

Out of the five deaths, one of the families decided to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit with the company. The manager at the Iowa meat plant location has also instructed supervisors to continue coming into work, despite the fact that they had symptoms of the virus. Employees also mention that they were not provided with the correct equipment, and failed to impel the act of social distancing. Employees working for this location had mentioned that they believe that the company did not care for their health as much as they should have.

Case Overview

Tyson foods has been distributing meat throughout the United States for years, they are the second largest food processing company. They also distribute the largest percentage of meat. The company itself claims to be $$meat leaders$$ who provide quality and convenience through their products. The company has a revenue of about $$42\mathrm{.}4$ billion with most of the profit coming from their prepared frozen foods. They have about one hundred and forty thousand employees and forty$-$two distribution centers.

Case Controversy

We are all aware of the Coronavirus pandemic, and we all know that we are told to follow specific guidelines to keep everyone safe and healthy. Especially now since there is

another rise in positive cases for the virus. Dean Banks, the CEO of the company has promised to provide his employees with safety equipment and procedures to keep everyone employed with the company safe and healthy. Although Mr$.$ Banks spoke about safety guidelines and regulations back in early March, one of their Meat plants in Iowa completely ignored these rules. In $($November of $2020)$ the leadership in the Iowa meat plant location has affected the company as a whole.

The managers at this location had placed a betting pool on how many employees would test positive for the Coronavirus. The manager at the Iowa Meat plant location goes by the name Tom Hart is the mastermind behind the cash in betting pool. Supervisors were also advised to ignore any symptoms and come into work, and did not advise safety regulations as frequent as they should. The Tyson Foods Chairman, John Tyson, and local managers Cody Brustkern and John Casey have also allegedly told other supervisors to ignore symptoms and said to them, $$You have a job to do$.$ Various employees have spoken up about lack of care for their health. Due to the lack of safety in this meat plant location there has been one thousand positive cases and five deaths. Isidro Fernandez, an employee who worked at the Iowa Meat Plant location passed away back in April due to the lack of safety regulations, and safety equipment provided. His son had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company. Although Tyson Food Inc,

have been in this scandal President Donald Trump has ordered the meat plants to be open due to the missing numbers of pounds of meat.

For the following theories: Utilitarian and Kantian,

$1)$ Using your understanding of the Utilitarian theory would a Utilitarian agree that the actions of the Managers of the Iowa Plant Location are Ethical or not?

If yes, why

If not, why not

$2)$ Using your understanding of the Kantian theory would a Kantian agree that the actions of the Managers of the Iowa Plant Location are Ethical or not?

If yes, why

If not, why not

Submit on SLATE $$ Assignments $$ Business Case $-$ Theories

Assignment must be completed during the Scheduled Class Time