Ethics Scenario #2: Harristown Hospice Services

2. Jackie is a home health aide for a nonprofit hospice organization. Her job is to make home visits and help a hospice nurse provide health services to patients who are receiving hospice care in their own homes. The organization provides a car to Jackie, but forbids her to use that vehicle for personal use. Jackie has bristled at this restrictive policy. Initially, she used her vehicle to pick up personal prescriptions from a local pharmacy on the way to visiting her patients, and dropping off laundry, and didn’t give it a second thought. Lately, she has begun using the vehicle as a replacement for her personal vehicle, rationalizing that her salary is quite low compared to those of her colleagues who work for for-profit counterpart organizations. She thinks that the possibility of anyone finding out about her use of the car is remote, and that the organization would look the other way if it did find out and take action against her, as she felt she was a valued employee who would be difficult to replace. And she knows firsthand that other employees of the organization have occasionally violated this policy, although perhaps not to the extent that she has currently been doing.

a. Is Jackie acting unethically by using the vehicle for personal use?

b. What alternatives might Jackie pursue if she strongly believes that this policy is too restrictive?