WGU D078 Task 2 Guide and Example: TEM2 Legal and Ethical Considerations

By Dan Palmer, MBA · Academic strategy consultant for working adult learners · LinkedIn

D078 Task 2 hands you a business story with problems built into nearly every paragraph. A farmer and a supermarket retailer disagree about how to organize their farmers market. Two years later, the managers, employees, and customers are all affected by decisions that raise legal and ethical questions. Your job isn’t to find every problem. It’s to answer five specific prompts accurately and tie each answer to the scenario.

This guide is for working students in WGU’s business programs who want to finish WGU D078 Task 2 without a revision. It explains what each requirement of TEM2 Task 2: Legal and Ethical Considerations asks for and how to read the scenario. It also covers the legal details that most often make answers inaccurate, and links to an APA 7 D078 Task 2 example built on a separate practice scenario.

Also Check: WGU D078 Task 1 Guide and Example: TEM2 Organizational Structure

D078 Task 2: Legal and Ethical Considerations

Scenario

A local farmer and a supermarket retailer plan to enter into a business venture to open a downtown farmers market every weekend from April through October. The goal of the farmers market is to bring fresh organic produce to an area of the city that would otherwise not have access to organic fruits and vegetables.

The retailer would like to have more decision-making authority in order to control the marketing and ownership of the warehouse space that will host the farmers market. The local farmer is personally concerned about the financial impact of having a primary stake ownership because the farmer does not want to suffer a large financial loss if the business venture is not successful.

(The farmer has been affected in the past by things outside of their personal control, such as excessive rain which caused decreased profits over the past two seasons) The retailer has proposed they include outside investors in order to have access to capital and expertise that will help create distribution efficiencies. The local farmer would like to limit outside investors and external decision-making influence in the business because the farmer doesn’t want to lose primary control of the farmers market.

The local farmer currently grows enough produce to have 20 stalls at the farmers market. The retailer would like to plan for growth by beginning the farmers market with the produce that the local farmer grows and then double the number of stalls offered each year by adding organic options from other regional farmers markets to build sustainable networks. The retailer proposes organizing the farmers market venture as a corporation, while the local farmer recommends organizing as either a limited liability company or a general partnership.

Two years after the retailer and local farmer establish the farmers market, there has been notable growth. The farmers market has expanded to include additional regional farmers who provide more produce every weekend. To manage the farmers market, the retailer and local farmer have hired general managers with extensive experience in organic retail sales and promotion. The retailer requires that some of these managers work overtime hours on the first Saturday of each month so that new products can be staged and merchandised before the market opens each weekend.

However, the retailer does not pay overtime wages to the managers, claiming that the required overtime is management training and an investment in their future career development. For some reason, the female managers are always the ones required to do this extra work even though they have similar levels of experience to the male managers.

Besides the general managers, the farmers market also employs several employees. The employees stock the stalls with produce. The managers occasionally require the employees to carry unreasonably heavy boxes of produce from the trucks to the stalls. These heavy boxes should be moved with a hand truck to prevent injury, but hand trucks are not always available. One employee recently strained his back lifting a heavy box.

On the first Saturday in May, the general managers identify substandard produce that has been damaged or is not ripe. The general managers notify the retailer that this produce should not be sold.

However, the farmers who provide the produce will only get paid if the merchandise sells, so the retailer tells the general managers that they should display the produce so that customers will not be aware of the substandard quality. The retailer also suggests that if the sales are not 10% higher this weekend than last weekend, the general managers may not receive a full day’s wages for their work today.

A. Compare two of the proposed legal entity types for the farmers market venture by doing the following:

1. Describe one of the legal entity types identified in the scenario (i.e., Corporation, Limited Liability Company (LLC), or General Partnership) and then describe how it would affect each of the following factors in the context of the farmers market:

• Taxation
• Liability
• ownership and control

2. Describe one legal entity type identified in the scenario (i.e., Corporation, Limited Liability Company (LLC), or General Partnership) that is different from the one described in part A1 and then describe how it would affect each of the following factors in the context of the farmers market:

• Taxation
• Liability
• ownership and control

B. Describe the legal and ethical obligations the employer in the scenario has by doing the following:

1. Describe one legal obligation the employer in the scenario has, according to one of the following laws:

• Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

2. Describe an ethical obligation the employer in the scenario has that is different from the legal obligation described in part B1.

C. Describe one ethical obligation of the employees in the scenario.

D. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

E. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.

What D078 Task 2 Asks You to Do

Business Environment Applications I: Business Structures and Legal Environment (D078) ends with this task. The requirements are:

A1 and A2 each require all three factors. A paper that covers taxation and liability for both entities but skips ownership and control has left out two rubric points.

Read the D078 Task 2 Scenario in Two Halves

The D078 Task 2 scenario has two halves, and each one feeds different requirements.

The first half (formation) feeds A1 and A2. The details that matter:

• The retailer wants more decision making authority, control of marketing, and ownership of the warehouse space.
• The farmer is worried about personal financial loss, especially after two seasons of weather losses, and wants to limit outside investors and outside control.
• The retailer wants outside investors for capital and distribution expertise, and plans to double the number of stalls each year.
• The retailer proposes a corporation. The farmer proposes an LLC or a general partnership.

Each entity type you describe should be measured against these needs. “An LLC protects owners from personal liability” is a definition. “An LLC would protect the farmer’s personal assets if another rainy season led to losses” is an applied answer.

The second half (two years later) feeds B1, B2, and C. It describes unpaid overtime framed as training, extra work assigned only to the female managers, employees carrying heavy boxes without hand trucks, an employee’s back injury, substandard produce displayed to hide its quality, and a threat to cut managers’ pay if sales don’t rise 10%.

A1 and A2: Comparing Two Entity Types

Choose two of the three entity types named in the scenario. For each one, cover all three factors:

The table gives you the general rules. The rubric rewards the next step: explaining what each rule means for this farmer and this retailer. Ask, for each factor, which partner it favors and why. For example, the corporation’s ability to issue shares supports the retailer’s investor plan but works against the farmer’s wish to limit outside influence.

B1: One Legal Obligation Under OSHA, the FLSA, or Title VII

You only need one law. Each one connects to a different part of the scenario:

• OSHA: The heavy boxes, the missing hand trucks, and the employee’s back strain. Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace (Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA], n.d.).
• FLSA: The overtime the retailer won’t pay and the threat to withhold part of a day’s wages.
• Title VII: Only the female managers are assigned the extra Saturday work. Title VII prohibits discrimination in the “terms, conditions, or privileges of employment” because of sex (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC], n.d.).

If you choose the FLSA, check the managers’ exemption status. The FLSA’s overtime rules don’t apply to employees who qualify for the executive exemption. That exemption requires a salary of at least $684 per week, a primary duty of management, regular direction of two or more employees, and real input on hiring or firing (U.S. Department of Labor [DOL], 2019a). General managers may meet that test.

The DOL also says an exempt employee’s salary “cannot be reduced because of variations in the quality or quantity of the employee’s work” (DOL, 2019b), which is relevant to the threat to cut pay if sales targets aren’t met. An FLSA answer that simply says “managers must be paid overtime” without addressing this can be marked inaccurate.

Whichever law you choose, name the specific obligation, show which facts in the scenario trigger it, and cite the law or an authoritative source on it.

D078 Task 2 B2: An Ethical Obligation That Is Different

D078 Task 2 B2 is where many papers lose points, because the “ethical” obligation turns out to be the B1 law restated. B2 must be different from B1, and it should be an obligation grounded in ethics rather than in one of the three laws.

The scenario gives you several options that go beyond the three named laws. Examples include honesty with customers about produce quality, fair treatment of the farmers whose pay depends on sales, and transparency with managers about how they’re paid. Choose one, explain why it is an ethical obligation (who is harmed, and what principle such as honesty, fairness, or respect is at stake), and say what the employer should do.

If B1 uses Title VII, don’t make B2 “treat male and female managers fairly.” That is the same obligation in different words.

C: The Employees’ Ethical Obligation

C shifts the focus from the employer to the employees, which includes the general managers. The question is what they ought to do, given what they’ve been told to do. Consider whether they should display produce they know is substandard, and whether they should speak up about unsafe lifting. A strong answer names the obligation, connects it to a specific instruction in the scenario, and explains what acting on it would look like, such as raising the concern with the owners or refusing to mislead customers.

D and E: Sources, Similarity, and Professional Communication

Cite the legal rules you describe. Government sources such as the IRS, SBA, DOL, OSHA, and EEOC are reputable, current, and easy to cite in APA.

About the D078 Task 2 similarity report: because every D078 Task 2 WGU submission works from the same scenario, copying scenario sentences into your paper raises your similarity score quickly. Summarize the facts in your own words in a sentence or two, then spend your words on analysis. Short quotations of legal language are fine if they’re cited.

Grammarly for Education checks professional communication, so clear any Correctness flags before you submit.

Are There D078 Task 2 Answers to Copy?

No. Posted D078 Task 2 answers and D078 WGU Task 2 papers on study sites all respond to the same farmers market scenario, which is exactly what the similarity checker compares against. A copied answer can also carry over the FLSA exemption mistake described above. Our example uses a different practice scenario, so you can see the structure and depth of a complete paper without getting text that maps onto your submission.

D078 Task 2 Example: The Station Square Practice Paper

Our WGU D078 Task 2 example applies the same requirements to a fictitious venture. A family bakery and a regional coffee roaster plan a joint café at a train station. The roaster wants a corporation to bring in investors, and the baker wants an LLC to protect personal assets and keep control. Two years later, hourly baristas are told to count tills and clean equipment after clocking out, and pastries baked the day before are labeled “baked this morning.”

The paper compares an LLC and a C corporation across all three factors, describes an FLSA obligation, explains a separate ethical obligation, and describes the employees’ ethical obligation. Every section carries a comment explaining which requirement it satisfies. Here’s an excerpt from B1:

Because the baristas are paid hourly and are not exempt, all of the time they spend counting tills and cleaning equipment at the employer’s direction is hours worked, even if it happens after they clock out.

This D078 Task 2 example is for illustration only. Your submission must use the farmers market scenario from your task directions, in your own words.

Download the D078 Task 2 example paper (.docx)

Plan It Around Your Work Week

1. Evening one: Read the scenario twice, split it into the formation half and the “two years later” half, and choose your two entity types and your law.
2. Evening two: Write A1 and A2, covering all three factors for each entity.
3. Evening three: Write B1, B2, and C, add citations, run Grammarly, and review the similarity report.

What a D078 Task 2 Pass Looks Like

• Two different entity types from the scenario, each with taxation, liability, and ownership and control
• Every factor applied to the farmer, the retailer, or the market, not just defined
• One law from the list, with the obligation and the triggering facts named
• An FLSA answer that addresses whether the managers are exempt
• A B2 obligation that is ethical in nature and clearly different from B1
• A C obligation that belongs to the employees, not the employer
• Citations for every legal rule, and scenario facts summarized in your own words

Related WGU Guides

• If you haven’t finished the first assessment yet, our D078 Task 1 guide covers TEM2 Task 1: organizational structure, the four factors, and organizational theory. Its example uses the same practice scenario approach.
• Identifying ethical dilemmas and stakeholders comes back in the WGU MBA. See our guide to the type of ethical dilemma in WGU C717 Task 2.
• For values and ethical leadership, see our WGU D253 Task 1 Values Based Leadership guide.
• Browse every WGU assignment guide and sample.

Pre-Submission Checklist

• A1 and A2 describe two different entity types named in the scenario
• Each entity covers taxation, liability, and ownership and control
• Each factor is applied to the farmer, retailer, or market
• B1 uses one law from the list and names the specific obligation
• If B1 uses the FLSA, the managers’ exemption status is addressed
• B2 is an ethical obligation different from B1
• C describes an obligation of the employees
• Scenario facts are summarized, not copied, and every legal rule is cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Which two entity types should I compare in D078 Task 2?

Any two of the three named in the scenario: corporation, LLC, or general partnership. Comparing the retailer’s choice with one of the farmer’s choices makes the comparison easy to apply.

Can B1 and B2 come from the same problem in the scenario?

They can relate to the same situation, but B2 must describe a different obligation that is ethical rather than legal. Restating the B1 law as an ethical duty doesn’t meet the requirement.

Do the general managers have to be paid overtime under the FLSA?

Not if they qualify for an exemption, such as the executive exemption. If you use the FLSA, explain whether they’re likely exempt and what follows from that, citing the Department of Labor.

Why is my D078 Task 2 similarity score high?

Usually because scenario sentences were copied into the paper. Summarize the facts briefly in your own words and focus on analysis.

Is D078 the same course as Business Environment Applications: Business Structures and Legal Environment?

Yes. WGU lists the course as Business Environment Applications I: Business Structures and Legal Environment, and you’ll often see it shortened to Business Environment Applications: Business Structures and Legal Environment D078. Task 1 covers organizational structure, and Task 2 covers legal and ethical considerations.

Can I submit the D078 Task 2 example from this page?

No. It uses a different practice scenario, and copying any example would violate WGU’s academic integrity policy.

Want a Second Look Before You Submit?

If you’re working full time and want structured assignment support comparing the entity types, choosing your law, or checking that B2 is truly different from B1, message Gradevia on WhatsApp at +1 564 544 6924.

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References

Internal Revenue Service. (2026a, June 17). Forming a corporation. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/forming-a-corporation

Internal Revenue Service. (2026b, May 29). Limited liability company (LLC). https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/limited-liability-company-llc

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). Ergonomics. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/ergonomics

U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. (2019a). Fact sheet #17A: Exemption for executive, administrative, professional, computer and outside sales employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/17a-overtime

U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. (2019b). Fact sheet #17G: Salary basis requirement and the Part 541 exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/17g-overtime-salary

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964

U.S. Small Business Administration. (2026, August 28). Choose a business structure. https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/launch-your-business/choose-business-structure