Find a company that has been in the news recently.  Using the material that you read in Appendix B of “The business guide to legal literacy: what every manager should know about the law”. 

Legal topics of contract and employment in this assignment at Amazon

A company that has been a popular topic in the news is Amazon. While several legal topics from Appendix B applies to the company, I will discuss the legal topics of contract and employment in this assignment.  Contract is one of the earliest types of laws to evolve. A contract is a agreement or a set of agreements that offer solutions when the contract is violated.  Business contracts are believed to be between sophisticated equals and their issues fall into three different, extensive categories. These categories include contract information and enforceability, contract interpretation and performance, and contract breach and remedy. For a contract to be valid, it must include an offer, an acceptance, and a form of consideration or inducement for entering that contract (Hasl-Kelcher, 2008).

Amazon currently holds a contract with Toys “R” Us; however, in 2004, they endured issues with their contract.  Toy’s “R” Us argued that by contract they were entitled to be the exclusive toy retailor on Amazon’s site. Controversy, Amazon argued that Toy’s “R” Us violated their contract by being out of stock during the holidays (Cowen 2004). This issue would be considered under the contract breach and remedy category. The Judge on the case decided that Amazon did breach the contract with Toy’s “R” Us. She did not award damages, but allowed the two companies to dissolve their contracts (Newark, 2006).

Employment is another legal topic that Amazon incorporates. Employment law is a comprehensive extent covering all parts of the employer/ employee affiliation. Employment law does not involve the negotiation process encompassed by labor law and collective bargaining (Cornell 2004). Recently gender gap in pay has been a huge discussion. As a result, Amazon conducted a survey that concluded that its female employees were paid equal to their male counterparts.