Running head: COMPETENCY III 1

Competency III

Maria Rivera

Dr. Christopher Gomez

ORGL 3332-Behavior/Ethic/Leadership II CBE

South Texas College

December 6th, 2019

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COMPETENCY III

Competency III

Every organization regardless of its size will be faced with an ethical dilemma. Issues

such as professional competence to employee’s rights are one of the many problems that could

arise at an organization. When prospective employees are seeking jobs, the individuals will

conduct extensive research on the organization prior to applying. Salary and medical benefits

will be the primary reasons that a prospective employee will be attracted to when searching for

employment. Also, employee rights such as FMLA benefits will also be in the individual’s

interest. It is up to staff that holds management positions to avoid unethical behavior towards an

employee's condition to keep away from creating an unpleasant workplace culture.

For the following case, I will be referring to the organization as RGV County. RGV

County is an organization that has over 30 different departments overseeing different areas of the

organization. Issues such as employees constantly calling in sick has increased and has become a

problem within the organization. RGV County requires the employee to bring in a doctor’s

excuse for every time they call in. By demanding a doctor’s excuse the organization believes the

employee will hold back on calling in so much if it’s unnecessary. Previously many employees

have been caught lying about being sick when in most cases they are calling in because they

stayed up late the previous night. Most of these cases have been caught thanks to social media.

One of the directors of RGV County decided it was time to place certain employees in

intermittent FMLA. The Family and Medical Leave Act is also known as FMLA is a labor law

passed in 1993 in the United States. Most of us know about FMLA when we have to be on leave

of absence for a certain amount of consecutive days. FMLA allows qualified employees to take

up to 12 weeks of unpaid absence due to qualified medical and family reasons. Then there is the
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intermittent FMLA leave that allows the employee to take non-consecutive days of absence

instead of taking the leave in a single span of time.

With the intermittent FMLA, the employee is required to have documents filled out by

their doctor stating they have a condition in which it can sometimes impair them from showing

up to work. Once the paperwork has been filled out and the Human Resources department

approves the condition than the employee will have 12 weeks of FMLA for a whole year starting

from the date it was approved. When the employee is approved under intermittent FMLA, the

employee is not required to provide a doctor's excuse any longer if it's related to their condition.

If the employee calls in, all they are required to say is that it is FMLA related. Managers are not

allowed to ask the reason why the employee is under intermittent FMLA or are not allowed to

ask them questions when calling in.

In this case as the director who oversees the customer service area, it is important to hire

reliable staff. Whenever an employee calls in it affects the whole department because other

employees have to fill in for the missing person and work twice as fast. Not only do the

employees have to take over the tasks of the missing employee but their schedules have to be

adjusted as well in order to fill in the shift. The constant call-ins have caused for the rest of the

employees to get frustrated and have rebelled against management. They believe management

shouldn’t allow them to leave early constantly, but in reality, there is only so much that

management can do or ask for without getting in trouble with human resources. If managers start

to question the employee who constantly leaves due to not feeling well, then the employee can

turn around and say they are being harassed by management.

As a leader, I decided to inform the employees about intermittent FMLA thinking it

would benefit the employee and the employer. It would benefit the employee in the sense that
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they can now call in due to their sickness without the need of having to go to the doctor and

spend money in order to get an excuse. It helps the employer be in compliance with the FMLA

regulations. If an employer does not follow FMLA regulations, they are risking in getting

penalized or even get sued by the employee.

Now there is a certain employee who is under the intermittent FMLA it seems the calling

in have increased more and are usually done on a Monday or a Friday. The department of Human

resources has caught on to the pattern and now believes the employee is abusing the system and

is calling in for other reasons not related to their FMLA. Kant is a philosopher who I feel would

view this as wrong. Everyone should always strive to do the right thing not just do the right thing

only when it’s to our own benefit. I believe Kant would agree that an act such as this one would

go against the categorical imperatives that everyone should follow.

A philosopher that I believe would partly disagree would be Mills. John Stuart Mill

believes in utilitarianism. “This principle says actions are right in proportion as they tend to

promote overall human happiness” (Schefczyk, n.d.). In this case, the reason why the employee

was placed on intermittent FMLA is due to severe migraines and anxiety issues. We don’t know

the type of situation the employee can be facing at the moment, maybe calling in and doing

something that will make them happy and feel at ease would be their own business.

Employers need to remember and acknowledge employees and the role they play in the

success of the organization. By doing so, employees will boost team morale which in return will

cause employees to be happy not only with themselves but with the organization as well. High

ethical standards need to be created within the organization and the right management style

needs to be in place to keep such ethical dilemmas from reoccurring. Abiding by these things,

employers will attract righteous employees into the organization and will find continued triumph.
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References

Kant, I. (1785.). First Section—Transition from the Common Rational Knowledge of Morality to

the Philosophical. In Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals. New York,

NY: Macmillan. Retrieved from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5682/5682-h/5682-

h.htm#link2H_4_0002

Mill, J. (1873). John Stuart Mill: Ethics. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

https://www.iep.utm.edu/mill-eth/

“Virtue Ethics” (n.d.). In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from

https://www.iep.utm.edu/virtue