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Professional Ethics and Toxic Waste Essay

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1-51 Professional Ethics and Toxic Waste

1. Discuss why Rachel has an ethical responsibility to take some action about her suspicion of the illegal dumping of toxic wastes.

Rachel has an ethical responsibility to take some action about her suspicion of the illegal dumping of toxic wastes because it is illegal to begin with and even though it might only be a suspicion, if it turns out to be true, under the eyes of the law if she knew about it and did nothing, she is just as guilty as the responsible parties. She might be working for a very prominent firm but if her suspicions turn out to be true, the minute those news go public the firm’s reputation will definitely suffer as will the firms employees. No employee wants to have to …show more content…

She has no proof that her suspicions are in fact taking place and it would be very irresponsible on her part to say her company is doing something as illegal as improperly dumping toxic waste on purpose just to save some money.

• Give the information to an outside member of Alberta’s board of directors, whom she knew because he lived in her neighborhood:

Again, releasing such information to an outsider without knowing if it’s true or not, might be irresponsible on her part because from that point on it would only be one step for a company outsider to make the information public without knowing the facts. Since in this case the outsider is a member of the board of directors, she could contact that person if she feels comfortable with him in order to discuss her findings privately. That way she is also showing her commitment to doing the right thing for her company and shows her concern to do right by her as an employee.

3. Assume that Rachel sought the advice of the vice president of finance and discovered that he both knew about and approved of the dumping of toxic wastes. What steps should she take to resolve the conflict in this situation?

If Rachel sought the advice of the vice president of finance and discovered that he both knew about and approved of the dumping of toxic

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