A few years ago, I worked for a health and fitness store in Queens, New York. We sold vitamins, weights, health food, exercise equipment, and clothing. I worked for a manager who showed a tendency to be lazy by always leaving work early. She would leave work early and ask the employees to cover for her if any of the upper managers called.

The manager was in charge of recording the hours we worked and always gave herself 40 hours. Most of the time she worked only about 30 hours a week and often left one of us in charge of the store. My hours were always set, so it did not matter if I stayed later, because I was credited only for the hours on her time sheet. The dilemma here was that she was actually getting paid for time that she was spending away from the store. I was not sure if I was supposed to tell anyone or just look the other way, since she was my boss. I thought that her behavior was wrong, especially for a manager, and that it was very unethical of her to ask us to lie in order to keep her out of trouble.

a. Are there any ethical issues involved in this case? What are they?

b. Should upper management be notified about the manager’s actions? Why or why not?

c. What would you do if you were in my place?