Ethics Scenario # 14: Greenspace Wildlife Preserve

14. Trent is a senior development officer for the Greenspace Wildlife Preserve. One of the administrative assistants for the organization, Teresa, has made a formal complaint against Trent for sexually harassing her. The executive director, Pamela, has suspected that this complaint has some truth to it because of some previous behavior that she has observed firsthand. Informally speaking with other female staff members, she is amazed to find that virtually every female staff member in the organization has had a bad experience with Trent at one time or another. Some of these staff members have reported being stalked by Trent, directly propositioned, and touched inappropriately. Pamela decides to fire Trent. She calls him into his office, and explains the evidence against him. Trent denies all of the allegations, but admits that the organization for which he worked for previously let him go for similar allegations, which he attributes to his good looks and animal magnetism, and women who just don’t understand his friendliness and mistake it for something more sinister. He agrees to leave the organization quietly, in exchange for four weeks of severance pay and an agreement that Pamela will provide a reasonably good letter of recommendation for him, and not disclose the reason he is leaving. Pamela accepts these conditions for the good of the organization, and breathes a sigh of relief that she may have avoided a messy and long legal battle.

a. Has Pamela acted ethically by accepting the conditions Trent proposed?

b. How should have Pamela handled this matter to have acted ethically?

c. What might be the consequences of another organization hiring Trent without knowing about his past employment history?