Ethics Scenario #74: Friends of the Kraft Lake Nature Center

74. Bill, the Director of Communications and Social Networking for the Friends of the Kraft Lake Nature Center, a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, has recently hired Lorraine as his new administrative assistant. Lorraine is a young, attractive redheaded woman who has recently gone through a messy divorce. Bill is also divorced, and is looking for a relationship. For the first few weeks, their relationship has been entire professional. But since they have been working closer together, they have developed a friendship, and Bill begins to fantasize that it could become much more than that. He decides that the best course of action is to simply ask her out, and that if this doesn’t work out successfully, he can simply hire another administrative assistant or just pretend nothing happened. He does ask her to dinner, and she accepts with a smile. He thinks this could be the start of something meaningful, and he envisions that his life is changing for the positive.

a. Is Bill’s behavior ethical?

b. Is Lorraine’s behavior ethical?