Ethics Essay

493 Words2 Pages
I. Facts of the Case Robert Greeley worked for Miami Valley Maintenance Contractors, Inc., in Hamilton, Ohio as a laborer when he was fired in May of 1987. He was a divorced man with two children in which he was paying child support for. Ohio law ordered Robert’s employer to withhold the money that would be made for the payments through the Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984. The bosses at Miami Valley Maintenance Contractors (MVMC) thought it was too difficult and trouble-some to deal with the hassle of the payments and decided to just fire Robert. Under law, failure for employers to withhold child support payments substituted a $500 fine. Without hesitation, MVMC paid the fine but did however state that Robert Greeley was an at-will employee who could be terminated at any time. II. Ethical Question to be Answered Was Miami Valley Maintenance Contractors’ decision to dismiss Robert Greeley morally justified? III. Proposed Answer MVMC’s decision to fire Robert Greeley was immoral. If in fact, the law can enforce an employer to withhold payments for child support then it is for the well-being of the people. In Ethical Rationalism’s Principle of Fairness it states that we “obey just laws”. I believe that MVMC is disobeying this principle for the simple fact that they just did not want to take extra time out of their day to deal with one man’s problems when it was ordered by law for them to do so. For MVMC to so readily pay the $500 fine shows that they were acting immorally and quick to blame their actions by stating he was at-will. IV. Objection to Proposed Answer and Response to the Objection Objection (1): MVMC’s justification on the termination of Greeley was because he was not in a union or bound to a contract but an at-will employee could be let go at anytime for any reason. With the United States being an at-will employment country an
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