On January $1,2023,$ Scott Ross started working at BusComm Corp. in the Accounting division of the firm in Richmond, Texas. While on an office tour during orientation, Scott noticed a list of computer passwords near a photocopier. Scott did not report what he saw although the company takes computer security very seriously and is in the process of implementing several new policies regarding ethics, expectations, and behavior. Part of the plan is to invest a substantial amount of resources in disseminating this information to all employees and staff; currently, only upper management, office administrators, and task force members are aware of the new policy. A few days later, Scott was at the copier and noticed the passwords were still there. He decided he would turn them into cybersecurity deputy Jessica Stansbury, the office administrator, to ensure the passwords' safety. Jessica had recently been tasked with monitoring computer misuse and deputizing three $(3)$ more employees to help her in this role. $($Although Jessica liked the idea of potentially getting paid more for her new responsibilities, she shuddered at the idea of policing her co$-$workers and thus only asked one other person to help her with this new responsibility.$)$

When Scott passed by Jessica$$s desk, Jessica had already left for the day and would be on vacation the following week. Scott thought it best to lock the passwords in his desk until she returned. At the end of the day, Scott was reminded that he would be doing additional training and client consultation in San Francisco for the next month. When Scott returned home, he remembered the passwords and thought it best to send Jessica an email detailing what occurred and that he safely locked the passwords away in his desk drawer and she had his permission to unlock his drawer to retrieve the passwords. Later that evening, Jessica remembered that she did not turn on her out$-$of$-$office reply to her email, so she logged on from home to set up her message. As she was checking her emails one final time before beginning her vacation, she saw the message from Scott. Jessica sighed and shook her head sorrowfully and forwarded the message to Chris Little with a note telling him where he could find the master key to unlock Scott$$s desk drawer to retrieve the passwords.

$($Chris Little, an accountant for special projects, was the other person that Jessica had deputized as part of the cybersecurity task force. When Jessica talked to Chris about the position, she told him that she had no interest in leading in this way because she did not like the idea of policing her coworkers who were also her friends. She let Chris know that the task force was to have a total of four $(4)$ people for monitoring and support, but she only had time to recruit one, which was him. She also told him that together they could select the other two members of the task force and because of his high morals and impeccable character, whoever he recommended for those positions, she would support wholeheartedly, although upper management has to make the final decision.$)$

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MGT $3313$: Legal Issues in HRM Prof. Laws

The next morning when Chris came into the office, he saw Jessica$$s message and hurried quickly to retrieve the keys to unlock the drawer. On the way back to Scott$$s office, Chris saw Laura Young. $($Laura was one of the people that Chris wanted on the task force. Chris was a Team Lead on a Project that Laura managed. Chris trusted Laura because she always brought him coffee every morning. He also assumed that Laura would never be competition for him in the office.$)$

When Chris saw Laura, he asked her if she could retrieve the passwords because he had a morning meeting and he was running late. $($Laura was a hard worker. Probably the hardest worker on the team, but she hated working with Chris. She always felt his comments to her about her appearance, education, or inquiries about her personal life were inappropriate. She also hated working on the team with him, despite all her hard work, Chris never gave Laura or other team members credit for what they accomplished.$)$

Never one to complain, Laura did not report any of Chris$$s actions for a few reasons:

$1)$ Chris$$s sister owned BusComm Corp. and she always praised Chris as being a perfect little brother; everyone knew he worked there only because of his sister because he did not meet the posted job qualifications

$2)$ BusComm Corp. did not have any procedure in place to address office conduct between employees; and

$3)$ Laura did not want to be viewed as weak on a team dominated by men$)$ Laura agreed and retrieved the passwords from Scott$$s drawer along with some notes on the ABC project that Scott was working on that interested Laura.

Laura thought this could be an opportunity to get away from Chris Little and get transferred to a new team because she knew that Chris did not want her to be promoted. Before leaving Scott's office she took pictures of the project notes and returned them