Question

Assume you are the owner of a small apparel manufacturer with approximately fifty employees. Your
business is located in a blighted area of town where the jobs you provide are important, but the
insurance costs of doing business there are significant, too. Recently, fire and theft coverage has
escalated in cost, but it is essential to protect your premises and inventory, and local ordinances require
that you purchase it. You have customarily provided health coverage for your employees and their
families, which many of them would not be able to afford if they had to bear the cost themselves. You
would like to continue providing this coverage—though, due to your small employee base, you are not
legally obligated to do so—but these costs have risen too. Finally, you would prefer to stay in this
location, because you feel an obligation to your workers, most of whom live nearby, and because you feel
welcomed by the community itself, which includes some longtime customers. Still, you may be forced to
choose between paying for your employee health care costs and moving to a different area of town
where fire and theft coverage would not cost as much.

• How will you make the decision within an ethical framework?
• What will you, your business, and your employees gain and lose based on what you decide? What, if anything, do you and your business owe the community of which you have been a part for so long?

Answer 1

1. As an employer you should keep employee health care at the top priority. Even if it means to relocate your business.

If the employees are have assurance of their health cover, they can work more freely without thinking about the adverse situations.

Ethically also it's more important to provide health coverage which is a basic necessity than to stay in that particular location.

Also you will be able to easily pay for fire and theft coverage.

2. You will have assurance about your employee because of the health coverage. Thus it would be easy in day to day business activities.

Your business will gain a lot if the employees are not concerned about their health and work freely with their full potential.

Employee would be happy for themselves and their family. A health coverage would ensure them to focus on their work rather than petty issues.

3. It would be a tough decision to choose between the community and employees because you actually owe to both of them.

But as an employer you are a kind of guardian for your employees hence your first priority should be their safety.

Thus you might take a tough decision to move your business to a different part of the town but still try to serve this community.

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