Re Standard IV(A), Loyalty, Schweser gives the following example and comment: --------------- EXAMPLE: A member is writing a research report on a company as a contract worker for Employer A (using Employer A’s premises and materials) with the understanding that Employer A does not claim exclusive rights to the outcome of her research. As she is finishing the report she is offered a full-time job by Employer B and sends Employer B a copy of a draft of her report for publication. COMMENT: She has violated the Standard by not giving Employer A the first rights to act on her research. She must also be careful not to take any materials used in preparing the report from Employer A’s premises. --------------- I’m having trouble seeing how, based only on the facts in the example, the member violated the Standard. Had Employer A negotiated a different deal with her, which provided that it had exclusive rights to anything she produced using Employer A’s premises and materials, for example, then she’d be violating her agreement with her employer. And if she were a full-time employee, then that would follow naturally. But where she is a contract worker and her employer has, in its agreement with her, expressly contemplated that it doesn’t have exclusive rights, then it seems to me that she has rights to deal with the research however she wishes. Comments?
but she’s writing a research report under a CONTRACT with Employer A, she can’t release a DRAFT of a report for PUBLICATION to Employer B without ATLEAST violating Standard IV(A) Loyalty… don’t read into the question too much
TorontoTim Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > But where she is a contract worker and her > employer has, in its agreement with her, expressly > contemplated that it doesn’t have exclusive > rights, then it seems to me that she has rights to > deal with the research however she wishes. > > Comments? The employer may not have exclusive rights, but he certainly should get the first look at what he is paying for, even if he doesn’t preclude her from subsequently selling/ distributing the work to others. If the report is not a completely totally worthless piece of crap, then whoever reads it in theory gets some knowledge/advantage in the decision making process, and obviously that initial advantage should go to the employer, even under the terms of the contract as described.
Sorry, I still don’t see it. Char-Lee, just re-stating the conclusion doesn’t explain the conclusion, even with lots of CAPS. And I’m not reading anything into the question. I’m taking the words literally, where it says that Employer A does not have exclusive rights. The comment says that Employer A should have had the first right to do something, but the example says nothing about that. That is reading something into it. Super I, I agree that what you’ve stated (“should”) is what we’d reasonably expect any sensible commercial arrangement to say. But we’re talking about a violation here, and if the contract doesn’t give Employer A those rights, then I don’t think the member has an obligation to be charitable.
see example 4 on p72 in the free Ethics material online. The answer makes sense. If that is actually the question you are referring to and you still don’t get it, just memorize it and move on. Contract for research, with use of employer’s recourses, even w/o exclusive rights --> employer has the right to first look.
Employer A is paying you to do research for them. Employer A is allowing you to use their premises and materials. Employer A does not have exclusive rights. Exclusive rights means to get a benefit and deny others the right to that benefit. So while the employer can not deny others the right to use the research, the member must give Employer A access to the research first because 1) they were hired by Employer A, 2) Employer A paid for the damn thing, and 3) they used Employer A’s resources to write the paper. Giving the draft of the report to Employer B means you have not given the report to Employer A yet. Therefore, Employer B is getting access to information that Employer A paid for. Clear?
Yes, clear. I understand the point, believe me. And if I were Employer A I’d certainly take that position. You can all say that Employer A has the right to look at the research “first”, but IMHO there’s nothing in the question that says that. Not sure a failure is a violation of the CFAI Code. But no biggy. I’m done. *shrug* As a general point, though, dec2007, I completely disagree with “if you don’t get it, memorize it and move on”. I’ll choose a different study technique, thanks. If we were all just memorizing stuff we didn’t get, there would be no need for this forum. Besides, Ethics is all about *applying* a rule to an infinite number of factual scenarios. Doesn’t lend itself completely to memorization. Of course you have to memorize the underlying rules, but that doesn’t get you all the way.