Ethical Respect and Consideration in the Workplace

Read the scenario below and choose one step below for your first substantive post.
Scenario: Helping a team of stakeholders to help Alice
Alice is 56 years old with a history of smoking up to two packages a day for at least 20 years. She has tried to quit in various occasions but never thought it was worth it -- so never finally did it.
She has worked at her company since there was a merger with a parent company about 5 years ago. Most of her colleagues that came with her choose to retire early -- they were close to pension age.
She has stayed and is one of the archivers at the company – she is slower than the rest. Others on her team find her out of touch with the team’s humor; and even though she went out to lunch with them a couple of times, she is shy and reserved.
She usually has lunch outside in a shed for employees that smoke – there are some gardens where she feeds the birds and squirrels while she has a cigarette. She befriended one of the gardeners but he is no longer with the company; and the current one does not like her feeding birds as this increases his need to clean the area. They do not talk to each other.
The archive used to be on the first floor, but due to the pandemic and after public health recommendations, the archive was relocated to the second floor by the main stairs. There are elevators but the lobby has been divided into an area for employee traffic and another for public traffic. The elevators are in the public area and employees were instructed to use the stairs only. The building has only two floors.
She is using a mask and has to use the stairs to deliver a few envelopes and a couple of files to another part of the office.
She used a surgical mask first and then a two-ply cotton mask, as she is having problems breathing.
She gets tired, red, and hot -- and has to stop a couple of times each time she uses the stairs to recover her breath. She complains of the multiple times she has to use the stairs to go to the first floor.
She requested a hazard report but the only recommendation was to not rush up and down the stairs and to keep to the right.
The manager offered her to use a face shield instead of a mask to improve her breathing but it gets very foggy. One day while she was walking, she was forced to take off the shield because she could not see. This made people distance themselves from her as they looked at her with disapproval.
Three months ago, she was off work and reported all this to WCB, initiating a claim -- but it was denied.
Her union is helping her to appeal, but even the union is unsure that this would be accepted.
Her short-term disability plan is used up completely – this means that when she misses a shift, it is an unpaid shift. This made her to return to work last month, but still, she is missing almost one in three shifts.
She was called to the manager’s office. He told her that the times during the day that she has to go to the first floor are not that frequent. However, when she goes out to have a cigarette, everyone in her department can see that she is not breathing well. The manager tells her that one of her coworkers saw her in the middle of the stairs the day before -- she was standing, sweating, having a difficult time breathing. The coworker was afraid that she may have a myocardial infarct.
While the manager talks to her, she is in his office, wearing a shield that is fogging up. He can barely see her eyes.
You are a RTW coordinator in a company that manages all the disability management services for this employer.
After this encounter, the manager calls you to request an intervention. You need to help him so he can work with employees that are able to work. When he tells you about this encounter, he explains that she is creating a problem for the rest of the team in that they are all worried for her health. At the same time, her work is slow and with the mask or the shield her attention to detail is lower -- making her work deficient. He confesses to you that he prefers her to be on a long-term claim and off his budget so he can have a new employee and keep a happy team. He thinks this is the best as she will have earnings from the insurance.
This employer last year was named one of the best 50 companies to work for in the area. You love to work with them as they are friendly and uncomplicated. You have a good relationship with Human Resources and all the managers you have worked with here. They have a couple of union shop stewards that are very fair and support the workers and your work, and you have never had a problem with them.
After looking at the documentation – you see that her claim was denied and she is now under the services of the long-term disability carrier – as she has the potential to have a long-term disability claim. You talk to WCB and the claims manager tells you that she declined it for lack of medical documentation. She says when the WCB consulted their medical advisor, he indicated that her situation is not a compensable consequence (not work related) due to her long-term smoking.
You then speak with the long-term program case manager and she says that they will not provide any services, as they think the employer could provide an accommodation. They don’t think she would have sufficient medical issues to be off long term, as nothing in her medical situation has changed since the pandemic started. All that changed was her work location, and thus, the employer can modify it back for her.
When you speak to Allice, she sounds tired and is very emotional. She has moments when she resents her team and other moments when she is grateful to have a job. Still, she is adamant that as long as she can come to work, she will do it, as she realizes that she needs to continue earning her full wages.
Her union wants her to be allowed to come when she is able, with no consequences as all this is based on a concrete medical issue.
You review the potential accommodation with the Human Resources Consultant. She indicates that in this case any accommodation would be an undue hardship, and that the employer restructuring the workplace is the only way they can get approval from Public Health to continue being open during the pandemic.
You are at odds. What is your plan? You have an employer in one position, an insurer in a different one, and a worker that is struggling.
You have the responsibility – as employee of your own company – to continue a good relationship with this employer – that is a particularly important client to you.
Choose one step below for your first substantive post. Name your main contents and make it ethically creative.
Step A
Recognize and clarify the ethical issue(s) that requires an ethical decision.
What is the ethical decision to make here?
What would be the best way to rephrase the ethical dilemma – so instead of restricting your work, it gives you the ability to expand your possibilities?
Step B
What information you have and what would you like/need to have?
What information you want to have, but likely you will not have?
Is there any legal issues or regulations involved?
Step C
What are the values in conflict?
List the values and prioritize them?
What would you do to prioritize them?
Step D
Brainstorm and list possible courses of action.
Estimate the importance of the short and long term consequences.
Prioritize those consequences, rating them 1-5 – low to high impact.
Step E
Look at the values and consequences in Steps C and D; you should have a prioritized list of values and a list of options rated by their consequences.
Based on that, make your own list (list 4-6 options) and get a total score adding these two variables and find the two or three options with the best score.
Choose an option and make a small action plan.