Leonard Clark is a division chief for a chain of stores that sells supplies to the Stay Home Health servicesindustry called Home ComfortSuppliers .It is a mid-size company with about 200 hundred employees and supplies about 500 stay home health agencies with the necessary medical supplies, housekeeping equipment and cleaning products which they provide to their workers that perform inhome assisted living duties. Their clients are located primarily in three states, namely Michigan, Illinois and Ohio.The company has four wholesale stores which are located in Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and Cincinnati. Thecompany has been very successful and has gone through a large expansion over the last decade.Many of Clark's workers have been part of this tremendous success.As a result, Clark enjoys the support of a loyal and motivated team of workers.

The COVID 19 pandemic hit the Stay Home Health industry hard.Families were afraid of letting anyone in the house with their elderly relatives.However, Home Comfort converted their business to provide retail supplies to the public online and in their four stores. The company also hired drivers to make free deliveries within a fifty mile radius of any of their stores.A new CEO was in February 2020, and he wanted to reduce cost during the pandemic until the wholesale business resumed at a higher volume.He decided that group of Clark's workers came to him after a month of working under these new conditions and told him that they were afraid of getting COVID and that they wanted more safety measures.They indicated to Clark that they were considered essential workers,but were receiving no additional compensation, they could easily get sick dealing with stay home health personnel who went to the homes of the sick and elderly.Clark took these concerns to the CEO.The CEO told Clark to find a way to fire or cut the work hours of the workers who complained about their working conditions. The CEO told Clark to try to replace personnel in the warehouse and local delivery drivers with as many undocumented workers as possible so that the company would not have to worry about paying health insurance benefits.

The majority of frontline, essential workers during the pandemic are women. Seventy-five percent of healthcare workers in most cities are women. And, minorities constitute sixty-percent of the nation's warehouse and delivery workers. These groups are contracting the virus in higher numbers because of their exposure, and, in the case of minorities, dying at higher rates.

Clark told the CEO that he is uncomfortable with these work place changes and policies.He is concerned about being fired from his middle management position,however,he knowsthat there were some serious health and safety issues that were being raised by his workers.

Over the next week, Clark developed a list of those employees who wouldhave to be dismissed because they commented about their working conditions.He considered their good job performance and seniority.He knew these workers personally and had socialized with some of them and their family members.He knew some of their personal financial situations and that they were supporting their families.

The next Monday some of Clark's workers in the warehouse and in the retail store in Michigan contracted COVID and one worker was critically ill.

1. Identifyallof the ethical issues and considerations presented and contained in the company's plans to save cost during the COVlDquarantine.

2. Identify all of the stakeholders who will be impactedand affected by these plans.

3. Identify any unethicalbehaviorwhich could also be considered illegal.

4. How should Clark handle this situation?

5. How could Clark be fair to his loyal employees/workers under his supervision and also address his managerial responsibilitiesto Home Comfort Supplies ?

6. What alternative options does Clark have in addressing the ethical issu