At the annual meeting of the HR division at an insurance company, the vice president of HR noted that pay compression was a problematic phenomenon for certain jobs for which there was high demand but low supply. This problem was especially acute for jobs in actuarial science and legal services. The vice president of HR has hired you as a compensation consultant to help them formulate an action plan for dealing with this situation. What would you say is the best solution to this situation?

John novosel was employed by nationwide insurance company for fifteen years. novosel had been a model employee and, at the time of discharge, was a district claims manager and a candidate for the position of division claims manager. during novosel's fifteenth year of employment, nationwide circulated a memorandum requesting the participation of all employees in an effort to lobby the pennsylvania state legislature for the passage of a certain bill before the body. novosel, who had privately indicated his disagreement with nationwide's political views, refused to lend his support to the lobby, and his employment with nationwide was terminated. novosel brought two separate claims against nationwide, arguing, first, that his discharge for refusing to lobby the state legislature on behalf of nationwide constituted the tort of wrongful discharge in that it was arbitrary, malicious, and contrary to public policy. novosel also contended that nationwide breached an implied contract guaranteeing continued employment so long as his job performance was satisfactory. what decision as to each claim?

Precision dyes is analyzing two machines to determine which one it should purchase. the company requires a rate of return of 15 percent and uses straight-line depreciation to a zero book value over the life of its equipment. ignore bonus depreciation. machine a has a cost of $462,000, annual aftertax cash outflows of $46,200, and a four-year life. machine b costs $898,000, has annual aftertax cash outflows of $16,500, and has a seven-year life. whichever machine is purchased will be replaced at the end of its useful life. which machine should the company purchase and how much less is that machine's eac as compared to the other machine's

mark, a civil engineer, entered into a contract with david. as per the contract, mark agreed to design and build a house for david for a specified fee. mark provided david with an estimation of the total cost and the contract was mutually agreed upon. however, during construction, when mark increased the price due to a miscalculation on his part, david refused to pay the amount. this scenario is an example of a mistake.