Contract and Professor Knox Group
SOPHIA HENRY WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT ETHICS: PROFESSOR KNOX GROUP A A newspaper columnist signs a contract with a newspaper chain. Several months later she is offered a position with another newspaper chain at a higher salary. Because she would prefer making more money she notifies the first chain that she is breaking her contract. The court will decide the legality of her action. But what is the morality? Did she the columnist behave ethically? An airline pilot goes for his regular medical checkup. The doctor discovers that he has developed a heart murmur.
The pilot only has one month to go before his retirement. The doctor wonders whether, under these unusual circumstances she is justified in withholding the information about the pilot’s condition. (1) An employment contract is a contractual relationship between an employer and an individual employee or organization. My first issue at hand is the terms under which the contract was signed. The court has to determine whether it was stated on the contract that the columnist was locked in until the term were fulfilled under which she would be ethically wrong to break that contract.
If an employee willingly breaks the terms of their contract it is unethical behavior and should be held accountable for those actions. Understandably the columnist has researched and came across a better opportunity which is financially gainful to her but she also had to explore the ramifications for accepting their offer of employment as it was presented to her. Consideration had to be taken by the columnist that time and money was spent on recruiting her for the job and ensuring that she was settled in a comfortable environment to conduct her duties accordingly and up to company standards.
On the other hand it is not immoral to break a contract to pursue better opportunity for oneself if the term of the contract does not state that she had to serve for a certain period of time before leaving. Immorality would come into play if she willingly and knowingly ignores the terms and sought out other employment opportunities while being employed under that agreement. If she knowing breaks the terms of the agreement she would be legally responsible for repaying the recruitment fees and all money spent by the employer to ensure that she was situated at her position as well as all fees for recruiting someone else to replace her.
I believe that the columnist was wrong to enter into a contractual agreement if her job search was not over and that if she really wanted the job she should have been honest with the employer and discuss not getting into a contractual position at the company while she pursues better pay and opportunity. The columnist was guided by her mind and conscience to do what was best for her at the time and was not thinking long term or the ramifications to the company if she decided to leave her contract early. I think both Augustine and Aquinos would commend her for following her virtue and doing what is right for her as an individual.
Aquinos believes that we all have to find something in practical reasoning that will help us come to the best conclusion for ones self and that is what the columnist did, her one big reason was that she wanted to make more money and that was her drive for getting out of her contract early. (2) There is no reason to justify withholding anyone’s medical diagnosis form them, it is not justified morally and ethically. It is unethical and immoral especially from a doctor’s standpoint because his/her oath is to protect and treat no matter what the circumstances are and not honoring that oath in my opinion is an evil act.
The pilot can still perform his duties until retirement under close doctor supervision and with the help of medication to control his symptoms. I do not think that his diagnosis should impact his retirement benefits as he is suffering for a condition that is beyond his control and not of his own doing. The physician’s only concern at this point is find ways in keeping the pilot healthy, provide him with enough information on his diagnosis and ease his mind from the worries he might have. Neither Augustine nor Aquinos would agree with the path the doctor is thinking of taking with the pilot.
One is the reasons is because the news does not affect him personally nor is his virtue at stack. Though the doctor is trying to do a good deed and allow the pilot to enjoy the few weeks before his retirement stress and worry free he is also doing him a disservice by not giving him the option to make the choice of whether he wants to retire now or try to continue with his journey and retire at his scheduled time. Ethically the doctor has to follow the law and relay any findings and diagnosis to the pilot so he can come to terms in dealing with the symptoms and treatment of his diagnosis.
