Reflection Paper 1 Ethics
Reflection: It’s All in the Family
I am the new head of the Payroll Department at Wonky Widgets, Inc., a firm of 75 employees. This is my first job since graduating from the University of New Haven. I was hired by Eddie, the General Manager of the company, who informed me of the need for maintaining strict confidentiality regarding employee salaries and pay scales. He also informed me that he fired the previous Payroll Department head for breaking that confidentiality by discussing employees’ salaries. I have been working at Wonky Widgets, Inc., for three months, and everything has been going smoothly. One day, I see Eddie handing Greg, his brother, a separate stack of work tickets, to create unfairness in the salaries for service technicians. First, this creates an ethical decision-making issue for me. Eddie told me he will fire me if I say anything about this. I can’t say anything to Brad, the owner, I see the three of them having lunch and talking all the time. This puts me in a tough situation, and I’m on probation. Plus, this creates disadvantage between the service technicians. Greg gets a separate stack of work tickets from the other technicians, so he can get higher commission than everyone else. Now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place with these fundamental issues. Second, all 75 employees are impacted by this scandal at Wonky Widgets, Inc. All the service technicians and their families are getting less money because of the scandal with Eddie and Greg. This is an unfair advantage, and I don’t know if Brad is involved with the brothers. Plus, Eddie told me the last person in my position got fired discussing salaries. He was probably discussing Greg’s high salary to one of the employees, Eddie, or maybe Brad. Also, Brad told me to come to him if I have any questions or problems. This problem is making me feel guilty for knowing what is going on in this business and scared, because I don’t want to get fired, I just started.
I am the new head of the Payroll Department at Wonky Widgets, Inc., a firm of 75 employees. This is my first job since graduating from the University of New Haven. I was hired by Eddie, the General Manager of the company, who informed me of the need for maintaining strict confidentiality regarding employee salaries and pay scales. He also informed me that he fired the previous Payroll Department head for breaking that confidentiality by discussing employees’ salaries. I have been working at Wonky Widgets, Inc., for three months, and everything has been going smoothly. One day, I see Eddie handing Greg, his brother, a separate stack of work tickets, to create unfairness in the salaries for service technicians. First, this creates an ethical decision-making issue for me. Eddie told me he will fire me if I say anything about this. I can’t say anything to Brad, the owner, I see the three of them having lunch and talking all the time. This puts me in a tough situation, and I’m on probation. Plus, this creates disadvantage between the service technicians. Greg gets a separate stack of work tickets from the other technicians, so he can get higher commission than everyone else. Now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place with these fundamental issues. Second, all 75 employees are impacted by this scandal at Wonky Widgets, Inc. All the service technicians and their families are getting less money because of the scandal with Eddie and Greg. This is an unfair advantage, and I don’t know if Brad is involved with the brothers. Plus, Eddie told me the last person in my position got fired discussing salaries. He was probably discussing Greg’s high salary to one of the employees, Eddie, or maybe Brad. Also, Brad told me to come to him if I have any questions or problems. This problem is making me feel guilty for knowing what is going on in this business and scared, because I don’t want to get fired, I just started.