A understand I have a moral obligation to the firm and other employees.

Honesty, truthfulness and standing for what is right are important parts of my identity. I would be cheating myself if I didn't speak up and do something about this situation. Since a very young age, my siblings and cousins would look up to me when we found ourselves in sticky situations. They knew that regardless of how much I loved someone, I would always be fair and do what is right and stick with what I found to be true. I knew I would be cheating myself and all these other people who had always looked up to me.

Peterson & co. was an important firm in its region. Even with less than 100 employees, the firm had managed to gain sizeable market share simply because it had the trust of its clients. The clients always knew that with this firm, they would never be cheated. The firm has clear policies on various important issues including entering false information. It would be stupid to claim that we did not understand the repercussions of giving false information in our personal files since the literature was widely circulated among the employees and contents were discussed during most meetings. The firm had been extremely particular about hiring the right people-people who had the same moral and ethical values that the firm wanted to promote.

My ethical obligations:

With above considerations in mind, I have reached the following conclusion:

cannot possibly stay silent on this.

I have to take an action that would uphold the values both I and the company believe in.

A need to make sure that I have exploited all alternatives before the problem is presented before the senior management.

A must understand that one person doing this could eventually lead to other people doing the same thing and if I stay quiet now, I will probably have to stay quiet on all such occasions...

I knew I couldn't possibly let myself down and it was more about my values than anything else. I first approached Mark since I had already spoken to Sarah. I told him that I had noticed this and needed to know if he had any valid excuse for his actions. He apparently had been busy purchasing a home for which he needed to visit his realtor more often than his office hours allowed. I asked him if his seniors knew about it and Mark said Sarah did. I told him I had spoken to Sarah and that I was aware of their relationship which I informed him was the only possibly reason I could think of for her ignoring the problem. Mark appeared embarrassed but didn't say anything. After confronting him, I let it settle down for time being. I noticed that Mark came on time the very next day and stayed an hour after normal office time. This trend continued for a week or so during which I almost believed he had understood the gravity of the issue and was willing to make up for the lost time. I was wrong however and things returned back to the way they were before my meeting with Mark.
A finally spoke to Todd Robinson, our senior manager. He took the issue seriously, checked the time sheet and monitored the situation himself for few days before speaking with Sarah. Sarah argued at first but finally relented, admitting that she knew of the problem. A senior management meeting was held and both Sarah and Mark were seriously reproached for their irresponsible actions. Sarah however managed to retain her job due to her past record while Mark was fired. It was an unfortunate situation that I had found myself in the middle of, but I was happy with the outcome and happier with myself for standing up for what I knew was right.