Legal Responsibilities of CSR (Annotation 4)

        Carroll and Buchholtz (2006) declared that “Legal responsibilities reflect society’s view of ‘condified ethics’ in the sense that they embody basic notions of fair practices as established by our lawmakers. It is business’s responsibility to society to comply with these laws (P. 35).” The laws are the rules of the game. When entrepreneurs engage in the business, it is necessary for them to maintain the order of the society by obeying the rules. On the other hand, the laws seem to be the regulations for entrepreneurs, but they are the protection for the general public.

For consumers, when they have disputes about products with businessmen, they can seek for the laws to prevent the damage. Recently, more and more people have been used to buy commodities on line, which leads to many problems in the process of deals. The common problem is that proprietors do not provide the system of returning imperfect products. According to the article 19 of Consumer Protection Law, “Consumers of a mail order or door-to-door sale, if unwilling to purchase the goods received by them, may return the goods or notify in writing the business operators to rescind the purchase contract within 7 days upon receipt such goods without stating reasons or paying any expenses or the purchase price. (Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China website).” This article of the law can protect consumers’ right and reduce their worry about commodities.

For employees, especially females, when they encounter the unequal treatment on works, they can use the legal procedure to ask employers to give proper work environment and adequate salaries. On the basis of the article 10 of Act of Gender Equality in Employment, “Employers shall not discriminate against employees because of their gender or sexual orientation in the case of paying wages. Employees shall receive equal pay for equal work or equal value (Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China website).” Because of the natural difference between women and men, there are laws responding to this difference. For instance, in the article 14 of Act of Gender Equality in Employment, “When female employees encounter job difficulty because of menstruation, they may request a menstruation leave for one day in one month. The absent day for this leave shall be incorporated into the day for sickness leave. The computation of wage of a menstruation leave shall be made pursuant to the related statutes and administrative regulations governing sickness leave (Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China website).”

Legal responsibilities are necessary for the society. If entrepreneurs do not have these responsibilities, which is like playing the game without rules, the conditions would be very dangerous in the business and the society. Everyone escapes the responsibility (see Figure 1), which cannot make the world better. Only the good quality of people’s lives does stimulate the business transactions.

Figure 1: Most people escape the responsibilities.

References:

1.  Buchholtz, A. K. & Carroll, A. B. (2006). Business, society, and stakeholders: Corporate citizenship: social responsibility, responsiveness, and performance. In D. Shaut (Ed.), Business & Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, 6th edition (pp. 29-60). Mason, Ohio: South-Western.

2.  The group of Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China (n.d.). Consumer Protection  Law. Retrieved December 11, 2013, from Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China  Web site: http://law.moj.gov.tw/Eng/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?PCode=J0170001

3. The group of Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China (n.d.). Act of Gender Equality in Employment. Retrieved December 11, 2013, from Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China Web site: http://law.moj.gov.tw/Eng/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?PCode=N0030014

Reference of Figure 1:

Retrieved December 11, 2013, from Google Web site: http://biblioteka.adamdebowski.pl/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/12063288-large.jpg