Ethics and Preventive Legal Management (Presented by HospitalityLawyer.com)

This session explores the intersection of ethics and law in hospitality, where 60-70% of managerial decisions carry legal implications. Participants will learn a seven-question framework for ethical decision-making and understand the critical distinction between legal compliance and ethical conduct.

Discover the STEM philosophy—Select, Train, Educate, Manage—as a proactive framework for minimizing litigation and employee errors. This session covers vicarious liability, negligent hiring prevention, the reasonable care standard, and how foreseeability determines negligence thresholds.

Learn how to establish clear compliance guidelines that give employees the boundaries they need to make ethical decisions. Through applied scenarios involving wet pool flooring, menu substitutions, and intoxicated employees, participants will analyze real compliance challenges and appropriate responses.

A short break to refresh before continuing with the remaining sessions. Participants can use this time to reflect on the material covered so far.

Attorneys will work through complex scenarios involving safety code compliance, known security risks, and policy violations during defense strategy development. Each scenario demonstrates how legal and ethical questions are intertwined and cannot be viewed separately.

This closing session emphasizes that ethics starts from the top—management behavior sets the standard for the entire organization. Participants will learn the importance of documentation, evidence preservation, and how positive management that treats employees with dignity reduces litigation.