You’re a manager at a nonprofit. Your supervisee has been a resource mobilizer(fundraiser) there for five years. Four years ago, his performance was poor because he was undergoing chemotherapy. Since then, it’s improved to average but, in the past few months has declined severely again—He’s raised only half as much money as before. He explains that his cancer has recurred and has spread to his lymph nodes, so he’s in the middle of a six-month round of chemotherapy and his prognosis is not good. He says he prefers to keep working but if you terminate him, he won’t file a claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He is his family's sole source of income and his non-profit salary is modest and so he has little in savings. He’s just getting by. Do you retain him? An argument for retaining him: Most organizations but especially nonprofits espouse putting people above profits. To let him go when he’s been an acceptable performer and now has to endure treatment for recurred cancer would be hypocritical, especially since you know he is his family’s sole support and he's saved little because he’s worked for nonprofits. From a pragmatic standpoint, letting him go would hurt the organization’s morale. Besides, with his cancer having recurred and in his lymph nodes, it’s unlikely he’d want or be able to stay employed for very long. Retaining him would be an appropriate "cost of doing business."An argument against retaining him: Less money raised means less services to the many needy people the nonprofit services. He’s only one person. Yes he’s an employee but the wise person makes decisions mainly based on what will do the most good, not giving extra consideration to the person in front of you. You can mitigate the toll to staff morale by telling the employees the ethical basis for letting him go and giving them ample opportunity to process it. To help him financially, you might give a generous severance package. That would still save much money compared with keeping him on. Which course of action is the best or most ideal? Your answer should be linked to one of the ethical decision making models (i.e. Utilitarian theory, Rights theory, or Distributive Justice theory)?
