Herwaldt 1

Abby Herwaldt

Jake Kohlhaas

REL 345: Issues Christian Ethics

29 October 2018

Case Study – Case #2

My close friend’s female married co-worker has been sleeping with another married co-

worker and informed my close friend about it. She is friends with the co-workers and only casual

acquaintances with their spouses. I get the impression that she is not super close friends with the

female co-worker although the co-worker did feel safe enough to disclose that personal

information to her. The male co-worker’s wife wants to quit her job so she can have children

soon. I assume that the spouses are unaware of the affair and are not in affairs themselves. The

spouses deserve to know about the affair. However, these are her co-workers and friends. Getting

involved would mean losing their trust and possibly making enemies whom she would still have

to work with every day. On the other hand, if she keeps their secret, she will have to see their

spouses face-to-face and pretend like everything is normal. She could also quit her job to avoid

all of it.

I think I could make an argument for how all four of the ethical perspectives could be

used to make this decision. However, I will narrow them down to consequentialism and

deontology because those two seem to be the most appropriate in this situation. Through

consequentialism, I can determine that not getting involved would be the ethical choice because

there would be harmony between the friend and her co-workers and the co-workers and their

ignorant spouses. Through the deontological perspective, I can determine that she should either
 Herwaldt 2

inform their spouses or tell the co-workers to inform their spouses because the spouses have a

right to know. I have personal moral commitments to honesty, respect, trust, and happiness.

I have chosen to use the consequentialism approach to evaluate this ethical dilemma. On

one hand, telling the spouses of the affair would be bringing into the light the dishonesty and

disrespect occurring causing distrust. Not only would the spouses be heart-broken and distrust

the co-workers, but the co-workers would distrust my friend. The male co-worker’s wife’s

dreams of a family may be shattered. A lot of drama and turmoil, for good reason, would occur.

The work environment for my friend may be very tense and difficult for a long time. The spouses

may or may not be grateful for the knowledge. The worst case scenario is that they may not even

believe my friend because she lacks evidence. It is her word against her co-workers. Her co-

worker could deny telling my friend about the affair. Then, they would all be angry at her. On

the other hand, she could say nothing at all. The spouses would continue living in ignorant bliss

and the co-workers would keep the work environment pleasant. However, the co-workers could

continue with the affair with no consequences. My friend would have to live with the potential

feeling of overwhelming guilt for keeping the secret to herself. While my moral commitments

are honesty, respect, trust, and happiness, I cannot really inforce my abstract moral commitments

on them. My friend could try to encourage her co-workers to develop similar ones.

In the end, my advice to my friend is to avoid getting involved for a few reasons. While I

still think that the spouses deserve to know, I do not think that my friend should be the one to tell

them. She does not have any concrete evidence that it is happening. Getting involved would

cause a lot of heated conversations and animosity between her and her co-workers which would

be difficult to deal with every day. I do not think she should quit her job to avoid it all because

that seems extreme. If she did not already like her job, then I would have advised her to quit
 Herwaldt 3

because it would not be worth it to work there anymore. However, I do not think one person

sharing something disturbing to her should make her change a major part of her life. I believe

that she should wait it out and pray for the co-workers to come clean to their spouses on their

own. If one of the co-workers talks to her about it again, that would become a different ethical

dilemma. If that did occur, I would advise that she state her position politely and explain that she

would like to stay out of the matter, that the affair is wrong, and that the co-worker should end it

immediately and come clean. Whether they listen or not is not her problem. If my friend was

really close friends with either the co-workers or the spouses, my answer would probably be

different, but my impression is that they are not super close. Basically, I advise that my friend

keeps the peace for everyone’s sake and leave the affair on her co-workers’ guilty consciences.

As her relationships with these people progress and more information is gathered, my advice

might change.