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A questionable expense using taxpayer money was revealed in the July financial reports of the Lake County Solid Waste Management District. The Waste District Director defended a listed charge (made in May) for a $751 briefcase he gave as a graduation gift to a Waste District employee. He called the briefcase an important showing of gratitude and a morale booster for the employee. The employee had recently completed her master’s degree. In August, the local newspaper requested and obtained a copy of the itemized receipt from the credit card assigned to the Waste District Director. According to the receipt, the Director had actually purchased a sapphire blue designer handbag, and three matching purse accessories totaling $751 (not a briefcase as he previously had stated). On the same day the newspaper had requested the itemized store receipt from the District credit card purchase, the Director wrote a check reimbursing the Waste Management District. After writing the check, he said it was no longer anyone’s business what he purchased. “I have written a check to the District to pay for this item.” The Director said he was just trying to recognize the achievements of a hard worker when he purchased the luxury purse and related items on the District credit card. He said what has ensued is an unfair “witch hunt.” ________________________________________________________________________
Assignment 1: Apply the IRAC case study method (see below) to the above summary from recent newspaper articles.
What is IRAC? IRAC (pronounced EYE-rack) is a case study method. IRAC is an acronym meaning: Issue, Rule, Application and Conclusion.
1. Issue a. What is in the stated facts of the case that raises ethical concerns for the parties involved?
b. Identify the ethical issue(s) or ethical question(s) involved in the above case: state the issue as a question (a question of ethics) For example (For example and the examples below do not need to be restated) o Whether accepting a gift in exchange for a vote is ethical? o Whether accepting money in exchange for a favor is ethical? o Whether a supervisor’s decision to promote an employee with who the supervisor has a romantic involvement with is ethical? o Whether a company that dumps toxic chemicals into the river to lower production costs and save jobs is ethical? o Whether a supervisor who gives a poor performing employee a high evaluation to avoid hurting the employee’s feelings is ethical?
2. Rule a. State an ethical rule or approach for analyzing the above case (the ethical rule can be either the Consequentialist, Deontological or Virtual Ethics approach discussed in Chapter 2).
3. Application a. Using the facts of the case, analyze and apply the ethical rule (from #2) to the issue(s) (using at least 50 words).
4. Conclusion a. After analyzing the Issue(s), Rule, and Application, explain (using at least 50 words) whether ethics or the ethical rule/approach has been violated and state why? b. What remedies or corrective actions should be taken to resolve the case and state why (using at least 50 words)?
Expert Answer
1. a) The case is about a questionable expense made by the director of the Lake County Solid Waste Management District, using taxpayers’ money. The director, as the case suggests, purchased designer handbag and accessories worth $751, against the stated expense of purchasing a briefcase for a Waste District employee as a graduation gift to most morale and show gratitude. When the issue was highlighted and questioned by a newspaper, the director wrote a check for that amount stating that he has reimbursed the state and his purchases are a personal matter now.
b) The ethical issues involved in the case are:
- Whether falsely stating purchases made on district card is ethical?
- Can a check to reimburse the state later when the matter is raised be considered ethical?
- Whether gifting an employee expensive handbags with taxpayers’ money ethical?
2. There are three approaches to ethical decision making. Under Consenquentialism approach, actions don’t matter, results do, whereas, deontology and virtue ethics both, focus on actions rather than outcomes only. Deontology relates to duty ethics and virtue ethics relates to the set of virtues an ethical person should have and act upon.
In this case, Deontology ethical approach applies, as the director of the Lake Country Waste Management District had a duty to judicially use taxpayers’ money which he was given by the state for Waste District tasks and jobs, which he failed in.
3. The Director of the Lake County Waste Management District had the ethical duty to oversee that the funds that state has provided to his waste management district are being put to use for the county’s waste management jobs and actions rather than for personal gifts and expenses. The director also failed to fulfill his duties towards his job twice apart from that, firstly when he wrongly stated that he purchased a briefcase to motivate the employee, when he rather purchased luxury handbags, and secondly when, the matter came to light, where he later wrote a check to check to the state to reimburse the expense, which clearly highlighted that he himself believed that the purchase he made was unethical in nature and against his duty and he still went for it.
4. a) yes, the ethical rule of deontology has been violated by the director as he made a purchase of a luxury handbag and accessories when he stated the purchase of a briefcase on the district’s card using taxpayers money. Secondly, he made the purchase for a personal gift on the state’s card, for which he should have used his personal money. Lastly, when the matter came to light, he tried to bury the issue by writing a check to reimburse the state.
b) to remedy the steps taken by the director, firstly a disciplinary action or penalty should be put on the director to ensure these actions are not repeated in the future. Secondly, the district should issue a defined set of guidelines to its employees as what comes under personal and what comes under the districts’ expenses, when they are given the authority to use the districts’ funds. Lastly, the consequences of wrong using state’s money should be communicated to the employees through a formal letter or memo within the district to ensure in the future no employee, irrespective of their position, misuses taxpayers money.
