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Imagine yourself at work one day and one of your coworkers have worked with side-by-side for several years wants to know if they can ask a favor of you. The favor that they ask is that you file a grievance toward your employer because recently you were not selected to be promoted and a less senior staff member was the one who received the promotion. You are in a Union with this person and legally through the laws of the Union it is your right to file a grievance against your employer because they did not follow along with the strict guidelines of your contract. What would you do? I was faced with this exact problem a little over 3 years ago and I would like to discuss how ethics played a part in my decision. To add some background to the situation I think I have to explain that about 3 and a half years ago a Management position opened up in our facility. I being the next available employee to meet all the requirements, such as, having 3 years of service with the company, having no disciplinary problems in my record, and being able to pass an oral interview where you have to show proficiency in management and leadership. I met all the requirements just having crossed my 3 year anniversary a month earlier yet I was not put in the Management position. A less senior staff member, less senior meaning she had only about a year of service full-time with the company but many years as a part-time employee. As the contract reads part-time employment does not count towards promotions. I was upset about the decision but the person who was selected was a very good friend of mine and I knew she would be a good Manager, what upset me was the fact that my employer did not follow along with what our union contract stated. The way they were able to get around this clause in the contract was to promote her as a temporary Manager because there is a stipend that reads that the company in times of hardship could appoint a person temporarily without following the contract. As a result to all this my coworker who is also a union board member approached me and asked me to file a grievance against the county on grounds that they appointed a temporary Manager but failed to find a permanent Manager.

The questions I would like to answer using the above situation as my example are: What was my final decision? Why was this decision my final decision? How does this situation show the impact of ethics on decision making? My final decision for this situation was to go

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