Current Ethical Issues

Current Ethical Issues

Huffman Trucking is a national transportation company with three logistical hubs throughout the United States and a central maintenance facility in Cleveland, Ohio. The organization began in 1936 with a single tractor trailer and has grown to 800 road tractors, 2100 45 foot trailers and 260 "roll-on/roll-off" units. They now employ 925 drivers and 425 support personnel. As a privately owned organization (Phoenix), employees are treated as part of the Huffman family, because of this, each is allowed to be heard by their managers, supervisors or the CEO whether it be compliment or complaint.

As with any industry, there are some moral and ethical issues that arise from time to time. The transportation insdustry is no different. One of the major issues at this time is the "Suspension/ discharge that is in the grievance process." This particular situation is upsetting to the terminal managers, and very possibly rightly so. They are not allowed to remove an employee from the job while they are in the grievance process. The managers feel the contract should allow them to remove said employees during this process. The managers do feel that if the grievance is overturned, the employee should be paid back pay. The reason the managers feel they should be allowed to remove an employee going through the grievance process from the job is because of the immoral and unethical behavior of such employees. It has been discovered that these employees are "surly and cause significant morale issues with other employees," (Phoenix). All members of mangement are discussing this issue to resolve the dilemma.

Another moral and ethical issue Huffman Trucking is facing at this time is "Additional reasons for discharge without warning." Management feels they should be allowed to discharge an employee when they are found to be under the influence of alcohol when on duty without written warning. In addition to drunkenness, management cannot discharge an employee without written notice in the event of sexual harassment, no matter the severity of the situation. As both of these situations put the company at risk for further legal action (Phoenix), managers feel they should have the authority to immediately discharge the offending employee without warning. In the event of such a dilemma, the suspension/discharge dilemma would follow. Presently, managers cannot discharge an offending employee without written warning, and they cannot be suspended or discharged during the grievance process. These two issues together could put Huffman Trucking at risk for legal or safety actions. An employee allowed to continue working while going through a grievance process for a drunkenness or sexual harassment could easily commit the same offense again. Drivers put the safety