Communication Skills Regulatory Frameworks & Compliance 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A company stores customer records for seven years to comply with tax regulations even though customers have requested deletion. Which GDPR principle is in direct tension with this business practice?
- Data minimization vs. legal obligation
- Storage limitation vs. legal obligation (Correct answer)
- Purpose limitation vs. accuracy
- Lawfulness vs. transparency
Correct answer: Storage limitation vs. legal obligation
GDPR's storage limitation principle requires deleting data when no longer needed, but legal obligations like tax record-keeping can override individual deletion requests.
Question 2: Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which party has the primary right to control access to a college student's education records?
- The student's parents, as financial dependents
- The student themselves, once enrolled in college (Correct answer)
- The college's registrar, as the records custodian
- The federal government, as the funding body
Correct answer: The student themselves, once enrolled in college
FERPA transfers rights over education records from parents to students once the student turns 18 or attends a postsecondary institution.
Question 3: Which FCC rule requires broadcasters to provide equal time to legally qualified political candidates from opposing parties when one candidate's appearance is sponsored?
- The Fairness Doctrine
- The Equal Time Rule (Section 315) (Correct answer)
- The Public Interest Standard
- The Political File Requirement
Correct answer: The Equal Time Rule (Section 315)
The FCC's Equal Time Rule (Section 315) requires broadcast stations that give or sell airtime to one political candidate to offer equal opportunities to opposing candidates.
Question 4: An attorney inadvertently sends a privileged email to opposing counsel. Under professional conduct rules, what should opposing counsel do upon realizing the error?
- Use the information immediately before the error is corrected
- Promptly notify the sending attorney and follow their instructions (Correct answer)
- Forward the email to their client since it was voluntarily sent
- Seek a court order to determine if privilege was waived
Correct answer: Promptly notify the sending attorney and follow their instructions
Model Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 4.4(b) requires attorneys who receive inadvertently sent documents to promptly notify the sender.
Question 5: Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which communication practice constitutes illegal religious discrimination in the workplace?
- Requiring employees to greet customers in a standardized scripted way
- Prohibiting an employee from wearing a religious head covering without attempting accommodation
- Asking employees not to discuss personal religious beliefs during customer calls
- Scheduling mandatory training on a day that conflicts with an employee's religious observance without offering alternatives (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Scheduling mandatory training on a day that conflicts with an employee's religious observance without offering alternatives
Title VII requires employers to reasonably accommodate employees' religious practices, including scheduling conflicts, unless doing so causes undue hardship.
Question 6: The SEC's Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) was primarily enacted to address which communication problem in financial markets?
- Misleading advertising in company annual reports
- Selective disclosure of material information to favored analysts before the public (Correct answer)
- Insider trading based on stolen non-public information
- False statements made in SEC filings and shareholder letters
Correct answer: Selective disclosure of material information to favored analysts before the public
Regulation FD was enacted to prevent companies from selectively disclosing material nonpublic information to certain investors or analysts before releasing it to the general public.
Question 7: A debt collector calls a consumer at their workplace after the consumer has told them their employer prohibits such calls. Which law makes this communication illegal?
- The Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
- The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) (Correct answer)
- The Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA)
- The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
Correct answer: The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)
The FDCPA prohibits debt collectors from contacting consumers at locations or times they know to be inconvenient, including workplaces where such calls are prohibited.
Communication Skills Regulatory Frameworks & Compliance 4
A company stores customer records for seven years to comply with tax regulations even though customers have requested deletion.
Which GDPR principle is in direct tension with this business practice?