Case Study: Better Bagels

Carla Lombard is a proud owner of a very successful seven year bagel chain called Better Bagels. Recently Carla received a visit from Frances who is the ex-wife of Tom Walters who is a remarkably good employee at Better Bagels main bagel shop. Frances came into the shop to tell Carla that Tom had AIDS and thought it was best that Carla knew as Tom’s employer. Carla felt too uncomfortable to discuss Tom’s health issues with him; however she was worried that Tom’s disease might affect her business operations if this news became public. Prior to finding out about Tom’s illness, Carla had intentions of promoting Tom but now she is hesitant to promote Tom to a managerial position. Last but not least, Carla has been deeply thinking about firing Tom, but she is aware that an action as such would be wrong. The case ends with asking if Carla should start planning for any difficulties if Tom’s health declines in result of

Let’s apply the first utilitarian approach, if Carla told Tom to take time off with pay, this may cause Tom to retaliate by quitting due to Carla depriving him of meaningful work. Carla would risk losing a good employee due to believing the information she received from Frances. Applying the second utilitarian approach doesn’t seem ethical to me. The second approach still seems wrong, because if Carla is overall happy with Tom’s work performance and currently have not detected any issues prior to speaking to Frances than she shouldn’t let fear over cloud her decision making by terminating Tom. If Carla was to immediately fire Tom after receiving the news from Frances about his illness, I would find this act immoral because according to the Americans with Disabilities Act “employers must make “reasonable accommodations” for an employee or job applicant with a disability as long as doing so doesn’t inflict “undue hardship” on the business.” (Shaw, p.