Institute for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility ? Nepotism in ...

Question to Ask the Prof

Q:I worked in a small branch of a bank. The only 3 full time employees were , the branch manager, her daughter and myself. (There was 1 other employee who left earlier this year and was not replaced.)I also happen to be the Mother-in Law of the managers daughter. My question is, How ethical is it to have the mother be the manager of the daughter, especially in this small of a workplace? My other co-worker (she left the bank this past March because of the manager and I recently left for the same reason) and I noticed some very preferential treatment towards her daughter. She was allowed to do things that, even though I was the senior employee, I was not allowed to do. She was essentially made the superior over us, was allowed to come and go as she pleased and basically given responsibilities that were not even offered to any one else(made a notary without asking anyone else, given a special chair in the office to put her feet up because she was pregnant, etc.) Being as the manager was in charge of our payroll reporting and review process is this scenario even legal?

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A (Professor Barbato): I?m assuming that the branch manager was not an owner of the bank and that she was an employee who was acting as an agent for the bank.? If the manager gives preferential treatment to her daughter, then this would be unfair and unethical.

Having said that, it is clear to me that the correspondent is coloring the information in such a way so as to convince anyone that the manager is acting unethically.? Giving a pregnant woman a special chair does not seem like preferential treatment to me, and I?m surprised that this would make it onto the list of grievances against the manager.? The other grievances are vague (she was allowed to come and go as she pleased).? One of the important steps in ethical reasoning is to make sure we have all the facts, and during this step it is important to check ourselves for any biases that would lead us to a wrong conclusion.

Source: http://centers.scb.rit.edu/ethics/2012/03/nepotism-in-the-workplace/

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