What to do when your boss asks you to do something unethical or illegal

It can feel like a no-win situation. When your boss asks you to do something unethical or illegal,
you face one of the most challenging dilemmas in your career.

"There are potential negative consequences for speaking up, as well as for complying," says
Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant:
How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job." "It can feel like a lose-lose —
but you should never comply with an illegal request."

You should also know that you're not alone, she says. "Greater transparency through social
media and financial fallouts have mitigated ethical breaches somewhat, but unfortunately, the
problem is still widespread enough to affect everyone's career because managers don't always
play by the same rules."

If and when your boss asks you to do something you know you shouldn't, you should first
understand the facts, know your options, and consider the potential outcomes before giving your
response.

"Most of all, know that your self-protection is paramount," Taylor explains. "Misdeeds, such as

destruction of certain data, illegal hiring and termination practices, over-billing clients, and
unauthorized use of proprietary company information, for example, can plague you for a lifetime
if you decide to engage — professionally, morally, and in extreme cases, legally."

Again, if you think (or know) the request is illegal, do not comply. But if it's in that gray area
or seems unethical, here's what you should do:

Be sure you understand the situation.

Make sure you're fully aware of the facts and don't overreact, says Taylor. "Ask for restatement
of suspicious requests. Create enough time to reflect on the situation and avoid a knee-jerk
response based on emotion."

Use your gut instincts.

If it seems unethical, it probably is. If you feel uncomfortable, then start asking questions. Let
your next move flow from the information that unfolds, she advises.

Stay true to your moral compass.

This is your career; you have to live with your choices for a lifetime. "And depending on the
situation, it might adversely affect others' lives, too," says Taylor.

Don't intentionally delay in your response or avoid responding.

You don't need to respond immediately and are better off going into a question mode. "That said,
if you wait too long or are unresponsive, it may be more difficult to eventually challenge your
boss," she explains. "Once you've gathered the facts, make your move."

Ask questions … and more questions.

When you get the unsavory appeal from your boss, the best thing you can do is ask away.

"Ask for the request to be repeated; and then paraphrase: 'I want to understand this a little better.
Are you saying you don't want me to document xyz for the Jones account?' 'Why do you want to
do this?' 'Wouldn't that be inconsistent with our normal practices?' See where that leads," Taylor
says.

Try to reason with your boss.

If you can muster up enough diplomacy and your boss is open to discussion, it's highly beneficial
to explain the concerns you have for yourself, your boss, and the company.

"If you can preface your argument with the fact that you want to be helpful and value your job,
you may be able to help your manager see the light and back down," Taylor says. "Understand
what is behind the request. Assuming the task is not egregious, there may be an ethical path to
achieving a better result, for instance, that your boss hasn't considered. Make it your mutual
brainstorm, i.e., how can we work to resolve this, as opposed to his or her problem."

Never be bullied.

You may feel pressured to comply with your boss's request, but do not allow yourself to be
bullied into any task with which you're uncomfortable.

"You could end up in a lawsuit or even jail, if your boss is involved with something nefarious,"
she says. "Just because you were obeying your manager's orders will not provide a defense. On
the flip side, don't get aggressive in response and bully back. It won't get you the results you
want by going on the offense. Stay in control."

Challenge with caution.

Write down the likely consequences of any action you take and know in advance what is most
beneficial to your career in the short and long-term, she suggests. "Whether you attempt to
'manage up' and help your boss see the bigger picture, or decline to be involved, knowing the
expected reaction will allow you to make the best strategic move."

Take measures to protect yourself.

This one is crucial.

"If your boss doesn't get the message by your countless inquiries and attempts to dissuade, you
have several choices," Taylor explains. "Your next move will depend on how egregious the
request, your relationship with your boss, laws in your state and industry, your relationship with
management, the role of HR, and the risks and rewards of staying or leaving the company, to
name a few factors."

Here are some actions you may consider:

1. Send your boss an email restating the request. Hopefully at that point, any manager would see
the poor choice they're making. Wait for a response. "If your boss is insistent, then record that in
writing to your boss and explain why you won't comply," suggests Taylor.

2. Talk to your boss's manager about the problem and seek advice (if you get the request in
writing, you can take that to their boss or HR).

3. Speak to a manager in your HR department.

4. Just say "no" and explain your reasons, hoping for the best. "If you decide to become a
'whistle-blower' while you're employed or after you leave, be sure to consult an employment
attorney," she advises. 

5. Refuse to cooperate and resign. "If the request is so distasteful and you feel you could never
continue to work for a company that would support such practices, you may be better off
leaving," she says. "If the request is egregious or bordering on illegal, you are far better off to
leave the company. No job is worth jeopardizing your reputation or career."

Don't talk about it with too many people.

While you may feel the need to share your challenge with colleagues or friends outside the
company, beware." It's best to first exhaust all internal channels to arrive at a potential resolution
versus risking possible defamation claims," she says.

Be firm and consistent.

Once you've made your decision, don't cave later. If you agree to the activity one time, it will
make it more difficult to decline the second time, Taylor warns.

Start your job search.

After getting an unethical assignment or task, you may suddenly lose respect and trust for your
boss and/or employer. "Without trust, you'll perform sub-par; question your boss's motives; may
be concerned about the company's long-term prospects; and invite unnecessary anxiety in your
career," Taylor warns.

Plus, your boss might start treating you differently and make your life miserable.  
This is a critical time to think about whether you really want to work for someone willing to
put your job or career at risk, or who treats you poorly for refusing to comply. "Then begin a
discreet job search while you attempt to resolve matters," Taylor says.

"And if you're asked to perform an illegal task, you should expedite your job search and leave
immediately," she adds. 

"One of the best ways to protect yourself with a potential illegal request is to immediately
contact an employment attorney. That way you will have all the best options available for your
review," Taylor concludes. 

--

Handling Ethical Issues in the Workplace

Have you ever thought about your responsibility and power to improve ethical standards in the
workplace?  Assistants have touch-points at many levels in the organization and we often find
ourselves encountering ethical dilemmas in the office.  I can usually tell when I’m in the middle
of one!

Ethics in the workplace is a unique topic. The situations that present themselves to us don’t deal
with easy, black and white answers or solutions. They live in the gray area. Ethics is about
behavior and conduct based on our individual value system.

We all have an inner guide that knows the right thing to do – we just don’t always follow it. For
some employees, the ability to act with integrity and demonstrate ethical behavior is strong and
feels very natural; others need some practice sharpening their ethical radar and learn ‘how to
think first about how to react’ to achieve the best outcome.

There are several factors that determine how we react to ethical situations including our
background, personality, level of training, and most importantly our value system.  Additionally,
depending on the circumstances of the situation, we might also fear retaliation or judgment, so
another factor is fear.

Studies have shown that are generally four ethical types that we find in the workplace:

The conformist follows the rules rather than questions authority figures.  You might think the
conformist could be counted on to always do the right thing. But, they might look the other way
if a higher up were acting unethically. 

The negotiator is someone who usually tries to make up the rules as she/he goes along.  For
example, if a negotiator sees a co-worker drinking at lunch, they might wait to see if the behavior
affects her/his job in any way, to see if it happens again or if anyone else notices.  They will
change the rules to what seems easiest at the time.
The navigator is the person who, when confronted with an unethical situation, turns to their
inward innate ethical sense to guide her actions, even if these decisions aren’t easy.  They have a
sound moral compass that provides the flexibility to make choices even if those choices are
unpopular.  The navigator is seen as a strong leader and other  people respect and count on this
person. A navigator will succeed in most companies but will not hesitate to leave a company that
is unethical.

Last is the wiggler. The wiggler doesn’t give a lot of thought to what is right. Instead, they take
the route that is most advantageous to them.  They might lie to appease a supervisor. The wiggler
is motivated by self-interest in order to get on a manger’s good side or to avoid conflict.  They
will run into trouble when others sense that she/he dodges ethical issues to protect their
individual interests.

The good news is that our individual ethical type isn’t set in stone. There are strategies and tools
we can use to become more ethical and make ethical decisions more easily.  One particularly
effective tool to use the next time you face a sticky situation is to buy some “thinking time.”

Here’s an example of putting the tool into practice. If a co-worker asks you to fudge some
numbers on a travel expense report, you can give yourself the space to react with a few responses
like the following:

“I need to think on that. Give me an hour.”

“Can I get back to you? I need some time to consider this.”

“I’d really like to think it over.”

Nan DeMars, The Telephone Doctor, refers to this technique as “freezing time” or “hitting the
pause button” and it can be effective. Not only are you pausing the situation with one these
responses, you also give the asker a chance to take a pause too, and reconsider the request.  Ms.
DeMars explains that this gives the asker a moment to hear what they are actually asking.
Sometimes that pause is just long enough to get them to rethink,  and think better of their request.

If the person asking you to make the moral compromise doesn’t change his or her insistence,
think about these questions before you respond:

1. If a jury saw me agree to this on videotaped evidence, would they think it was okay?
2. If some person I respect saw me do this, would he/she think it was okay?
3. If I saw someone else doing this, would I think it was okay?

If the answer is “no” to any of the questions, you have your answer.  If necessary, gently inform
the asker that it makes you feel uncomfortable and excuse yourself.

We can help raise the standard in the workplace by always demonstrating ethical behavior that
matches the high standard of the profession we represent.  
 --

10 ways practitioners can avoid frequent ethical pitfalls

Boost your ethical know-how with these practical tips on avoiding common ethical quandaries.

Talk to the ethics experts, and they'll tell you the best defense against an ethical problems is a
good offense. By looking out for foreseeable conflicts and discussing them frankly with
colleagues and clients, practitioners can evade the misunderstandings, hurt feelings and sticky
situations that lead to hearings before ethics boards, lawsuits, loss of license or professional
membership, or even more dire consequences.
However, being vigilant doesn't mean psychologists should spend their days worrying about
where the next pitfall could be, says Robert Kinscherff, JD, PhD, former chair of APA's Ethics
Committee, which adjudicates ethics complaints. "Instead of worrying about the ways [they] can
get in trouble, psychologists should think about ethics as a way of asking 'How can I be even
better in my practice?'" he explains. "Good ethical practice is good professional practice, which
is good risk management practice."
When psychologists do end up in ethical quandaries, it's often because they unwittingly slid too
far down a slippery slope--a result of ignorance about their ethical obligations or thinking they
could handle a situation that spiraled out of control.
Many problems are what Ethics Committee member Anne Hess, PhD, calls "stealth" dilemmas:
situations that develop gradually, moving step by small step beyond once-firm professional
boundaries. Although each step seemed harmless at the time, many practitioners later realize that
they have landed themselves in deep trouble.
The Monitor interviewed some of psychology's leading ethics experts to talk about how
practitioners can avert common ethical dilemmas, from multiple relationships to whether to
breach confidentiality, to terminating treatment. Here's their advice, boiled down to 10 ways to
help avoid ethical pitfalls.
1. Understand what constitutes a multiple relationship
Is it ethical to volunteer at your daughter's softball team fund-raiser if you know a client is going
to be there? Can you buy a car from a client who owns the only dealership in your small, rural
town? Can you ask an intern to drive you to the airport?
"A central question in any multiple relationship situation is whose needs are being met here?"
says Stephen Behnke, JD, PhD, director of APA's Ethics Office, which advises psychologists on
ethical dilemmas. "Whenever the answer is the needs of the psychologist, that's a time when the
psychologist needs to take great care and get a consultation."
According to the Ethics Code, psychologists should avoid relationships that could reasonably
impair their professional performance, or could exploit or harm the other party. Behnke
emphasizes, however, that multiple relationships that are not reasonably expected to have such
effects are not unethical.
That's because sometimes it's impossible for psychologists to completely avoid multiple
relationships, explains Steven Sparta, PhD, immediate past-chair of APA's Ethics Committee.
For example, the psychologist in a rural town may decide to buy a car from his client because
going elsewhere could signal that the car dealer was in therapy.
How do you weigh the pros and cons in such situations? APA Ethics Committee member
Michael Gottlieb, PhD, suggests in a Psychotherapy (Vol. 30, No. 1) article that psychologists
think about three factors:
 Power. How much of a power differential is there between the psychologist and the other
person? Since you also supervise the intern, it might be better to ask a colleague to drive you to
the airport.
 Duration. Will it be brief contact or will it be continuous or episodic contact over a long
time? "We usually don't know how long professional contact will last except in very specific
circumstances," says Gottlieb. Before entering into a dual relationship, psychologists should
consider whether, for example, a client could return for additional services.
 Termination. Has the therapeutic relationship been permanently terminated, and does the
client understand that as well? If a psychologist sees patients with chronic illnesses, they should
keep in mind that treatment could stop and start for years, precluding some relationships that
might be all right otherwise.
"It's only an ethical problem when there's a reasonable basis to see a foreseeable risk, and the
psychologist fails to see it or ignores it and goes forth anyway," Sparta explains.
Moreover, one type of multiple relationship is never acceptable: "Sexual relationships with
current clients are never permissible," says Behnke.
While sexual relationships with previous clients are not automatic violations of the Ethics Code
if they occur more than two years after therapy's termination, "psychologists need to be mindful
of the harm that can come from a sexual involvement with a client no matter when it occurs,"
Behnke adds.
Lastly, if psychologists find that, despite their efforts, a potentially harmful multiple relationship
has arisen, they are ethically mandated to take steps to resolve it in the best interest of the person
or group while complying with the Ethics Code.
2. Protect confidentiality
Psychologists are often asked to provide information about their clients to employers, spouses,
school administrators, insurance companies and others. While such requests may be well-
intentioned, psychologists need to carefully balance the disclosure with their ethical obligations
to protect their patients' confidentiality.
Indeed, because the public puts their trust in psychologists' promises of confidentiality, it's
essential for psychologists to be clear on whether and why they are releasing information.
"Ask yourself, 'On what basis am I making this disclosure?'" advises Behnke. "Is there a law that
mandates the disclosure? Is there a law that permits me to disclose? Has my client consented to
the disclosure?'"
APA's 2002 Ethics Code stipulates that psychologists may only disclose the minimum
information necessary to provide needed services, obtain appropriate consultations, protect the
client, psychologist or others from harm, or obtain payment for services from a client.
To help prevent confidentiality problems, psychologists can:
 Discuss the limits of confidentiality, including their uses of electronic transmission and
the foreseeable uses of confidential information, as soon as possible.
 Ensure the safe storage of confidential records. At the outset, notify people what will
be done with case materials, photos and audio and video recordings, and secure their consent.
Also, make sure rooms where confidential conversations occur are soundproof.
 Know federal and state law. Know the ins and outs of your state's laws that relate to
your practice. And keep in mind how the recently implemented Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act affects your practice (see HIPAA).
 Obey mandatory reporting laws. Even if a psychologist believes that reporting abuse
could make the situation even worse, "these laws are mandatory reporting laws, not discretionary
 reporting laws," says lawyer Mathew D. Cohen, who specializes in representing human-service
providers. Mandatory reporting laws were not created to have clinicians decide whether abuse or
neglect is happening, says Cohen, but to have them bring the facts to the attention of authorities,
who will decide.
"If you wait and nothing bad happens, you've still violated the law," he says. "[But] if you wait
and something bad happens, not only have you violated the law, but you have injured a potential
victim who could have been protected."
3. Respect people's autonomy
Psychologists need to provide clients with information they need to give their informed consent
right at the start.
When they fail to give details, sticky situations can arise. For example, when psychologists fail
to explain their duty to report abuse and neglect to an adolescent client before therapy begins,
they may be unsure what to do if abuse is later revealed that the client doesn't want reported.
For psychologists providing services, the experts suggest they discuss:
 Limits of confidentiality, such as mandatory reporting.
 Nature and extent of the clinician's record-keeping.
 The clinician's expertise, experience and training as well as areas where the therapist
lacks training.
 Estimated length of therapy.
 Alternative treatment or service approaches.
 The clinician's fees and billing practices.
 Whom to contact in case of emergency.
 Client's right to terminate sessions and any financial obligations if that occurs.
 Not only what services the psychologist will provide, but what they can't or won't do.
If individuals are not competent to make decisions for themselves, then the person who's giving
permission must have access to that same information. Moreover, a signed consent form does not
substitute for the informing process, which should occur first, say ethics experts--and that
includes situations where informed consent is implied,such as in an employee evaluation.
4. Know your supervisory responsibilities
Psychologists may be responsible for the acts of those who perform work under their watch,
whether it's interns providing therapy or administrative assistants helping with record-keeping
and billing.
That means supervising psychologists should continually assess their supervisees' competence
and make sure they are managing them appropriately, say experts. Such supervision should cover
everything from ensuring that supervisees conduct the informed-consent process correctly to
prohibiting them from using the supervisor's signature stamp on any bill or letter that the
supervisor hasn't reviewed.
"If it goes out under your name, you're responsible," says APA Ethics Committee Chair Michael
D. Roberts, PhD. "If they release medical files without proper consent, they're not going to sue
the receptionist, they're going to sue you."
According to the experts, supervisors should also:
 Establish timely and specific processes for providing feedback--and provide information
about these processes at the beginning of supervision.
 Outline the nature and structure of the supervisory relationship in writing before
supervision begins. Supervisors should include both parties' responsibilities as well as intensity
of the supervision and other key aspects of the job.
 Document their experience with the supervisees, including supervision dates, discussions
they've had and other relevant facts. Such information will help if ethical dilemmas arise later.
 Explain to patients that the therapist is in training and give clients the name of the
supervisor. Note that billing may be under a supervisor's name, not the supervisee's, so that
clients don't accidentally report billing problems when there are none.
 Avoid delegating work to people who have multiple relationships with the client that
would likely lead to harm or the supervisee's loss of objectivity--for example, avoid using a non-
English-speaking person's spouse as a translator.
5. Identify your client and role
When practicing psychologists work with organizations or groups of individuals, they should
understand from the start who they were hired to help and what is expected of them. Dilemmas
crop up in a variety of settings:
 In couples therapy. For example, when one partner wants a better marriage but the other
wants a "painless" divorce, psychologists should clarify at the beginning that they cannot decide
whether the couple should stay together or offer expert opinions later on during a divorce suit.
 In court, when it's not clear whether the psychologist is serving as an expert witness or
advocate for one side. Court-appointed evaluators should express well-balanced, objective
opinions, says Ethics Committee member Linda F. Campbell, PhD, while advocates are often
therapists for one party who have had little direct contact with the other. Because they can't
provide an objective evaluation, psychologists who are therapists for one of the parties shouldn't
serve as expert witnesses.
 When psychologists provide services to a person or entity at the request of a third party,
such as a parent requesting therapy for their child or a police department requesting an
evaluation of an officer. "You may have one legal client, but several ethical clients," cautions
Kinscherff. "In each case it's important to know who it is that you're serving and what your role
is in providing that service."
How can psychologists avoid role-related dilemmas?
"Knowing who your client is, what your role is and being transparent about what it is that you do
and mindful about the professional boundaries that arise are good guideposts to effective
practice," says Kinscherff. That means psychologists should, at the outset, have frank discussions
with all parties involved about the relationship they will have with each person or organization--
for example, are they hired by a business to enhance worker productivity or are they there to help
individual workers with mental health problems?
Other things to cover include confidentiality limits, what specific services will be provided to
which people and how the psychologist and others could use the services or information
obtained. "If you're reasonable and straightforward with people, treat them the way you would
want to be treated in a similar situation, find out what their expectations are, and clarify those
expectations, you'll be in good shape most of the time," adds Kinscherff.
6. Document, document, document
Documentation can be psychologists' best ally if they ever face ethical charges, says Ed
Nottingham, PhD, an associate member of APA's Ethics Committee. However, lack of
documentation--or the wrong kind of documentation--can be detrimental.
For specific guidance for practitioners, see APA's Record Keeping Guidelines. Some specifics to
include in documenting therapeutic interactions, according to the guidelines and ethics experts
such as Nottingham:
 Identifying information and first contact.
 Relevant history and risk factors, medical status and attempts to get prior treatment
records.
 Dates of service and fees.
 Diagnostic impressions, assessments, treatment plans, consultation, summary and testing
reports and supporting data, and progress notes. Include not only the treatments chosen, but
treatments considered and rejected.
 Informed-consent documentation, consent to audiotape or videotape, and release of
information documentation.
 Relevant telephone calls and out-of-office contacts.
 Follow-up efforts when clients "drop out of sight."
 Details necessary, including those listed above, so that another psychologist could take
over delivery of service, such as in the event of a psychologist's death or retirement.
A few other tips:
 Only include germane information. APA's Record Keeping Guidelines advise
practitioners to take into account the nature of the services, the source of the information
recorded, the intended use of the records and the psychologist's professional obligation.
 Never alter a record after the fact. "It's illegal, and it gets you into trouble, and more
times than not you get caught," says lawyer Joseph T. Monahan. You can append additional
information to records, adds Behnke, but when doing so, the record should clearly indicate that
the information was added later on.
 Use documentation to your advantage. "The process of writing helps [psychologists]
crystallize in their own mind what they are saying about the problem," says Sparta. "It helps
pinpoint when things don't make sense or where they need to get more information."
7. Practice only where you have expertise
Every psychologist knows they are obligated by the Ethics Code to practice only where they are
competent. But sometimes difficulties arise when, for example, they practice in emerging areas
where there aren't clear standards.
"The problem is that, many times, how does the psychologist know when there's something they
don't know?" says Sparta. "If you don't know from the professional literature that there are
certain guidelines...you may be well-intentioned, but not realize you're going beyond the
boundaries of your competence."
Competence issues also come into a play in child-custody ethics, when psychologists are
unfamiliar with the nuances of working with courts. Take the case of a psychologist who is asked
to write a letter to a judge about the relationship of a boy in treatment to his parents. If she has
little forensic training, the psychologist could land in ethical hot water if, for example, she failed
to include the limitations of her opinion, such as that she's never met one of the boy's parents.
Another area to keep in mind is assessment, says Campbell: "If you find yourself falling back on
instruments because you feel confident with them and you don't know which others to use, that
means you haven't kept up with the advances in that particular area and need to re-examine what
needs to be done to be proficient."
One of the best ways to address competence issues is to stay in touch with the profession through
conferences, continuing education, seeking diplomate status, consulting with colleagues, and
reading journals, guidelines and other publications, says Sparta. For example, if you begin seeing
an adolescent with anorexia, but infrequently treat eating disorders, read up on the professional
literature and arrange for supervision or consultation to ensure that the treatment is adequate.
 "In the age of long-distance telephone, teleconference and the Internet, it's hard to argue that you
couldn't have gotten the right kinds of information," says Kinscherff.
The 2002 Ethics Code does make exceptions for psychologists in extraordinary circumstances:
Psychologists with closely related experience can provide services if there's no one else who
can--as long as they make a reasonable effort to obtain the competence required. See Standard
2.01 for the details.
8. Know the difference between abandonment and termination
Every year, APA's Ethics Office fields calls from psychologists who want to end treatment with
a patient, but are anxious because they fear they're abandoning their client.
"Abandonment is not the same as treatment termination," Behnke tells them, pointing to the 2002
Ethics Code, which says in Standard 10.10 that psychologists can discontinue treatment when
clients:
 Aren't benefiting from therapy.
 May be harmed by the treatment.
 No longer need therapy.
 Threaten the therapist, themselves or others.
Psychologists should provide pretermination counseling and suggest alternative service
providers, says the Ethics Code, noting that this may not be possible in all cases, such as if a
patient abruptly stops attending therapy. Such pretermination counseling could include
explaining the benefits of the new services and why the current treatment is no longer helpful,
addressing feelings of separation by emphasizing the transfer is not a personal rejection, and
identifying practical issues in transferring the client, such as resolving financial arrangements
with the new provider before ending treatment.
"Involve the client in the plan," advises Sparta. "Empower them to feel confident and competent.
Help the client understand that the transition is a constructive step toward achieving their goals."
By contrast, abandonment occurs when a psychologist inappropriately ends treatment, such as
halting needed therapy with no notice.
In his tenure on various ethics groups, Sparta says he has seen as many cases when psychologists
continued treatment beyond the point necessary as when they precipitously stopped treatment.
While dependent clients can make it difficult to end treatment appropriately, the blurred multiple
roles that can result from prolonged relationships--giving a client a job, for example--are too
risky, says Sparta.
Psychologists can often head off termination dilemmas by thinking ahead, say ethics experts. For
example, a psychologist treats a woman until her insurance coverage expires, but when she can't
pay out of pocket, he explains that the relationship must end and facilitates her care to another
provider. To avoid the misperception that the psychologist "dumped" the client, the psychologist
discusses the treatment timeline at their first session, including the differences between short-
and long-term therapy and what could happen if therapy was needed beyond what the woman's
insurance covered.
If there are cases in which it's apparent that a patient may have financial troubles at therapy's
start, give consideration before you take the case, say ethics experts. And make sure you are
aware of clients for whom financial hardship is developing.
9. Stick to the evidence
When you give your expert opinion or conduct an assessment, base your evaluation only on the
data available. For example, psychologists in child-custody cases should be sure they aren't being
biased in favor of the parent who is more financially secure.
 "The best approach is to stay mindful about what you know, what you don't know and what your
sources of information have been," says Kinscherff.
Ethics experts recommend that psychologists:
 Know what the referral question is and choose assessment tools that can validly
answer that question. That means psychologists need to read and understand test manuals, says
Sparta. For example, personality tests appropriate for clinical use are not necessarily appropriate
for employment selection.
 Don't rely on third-party reports to formulate assessments and avoid giving an
opinion of any person they haven't directly evaluated. According to the Ethics Code, when
psychologists can't evaluate a person directly, they should document the efforts they made and
the result of those efforts. They also need to discuss the limited information's impact on the
accuracy and certainty of their opinion, and appropriately limit their conclusions or
recommendations.
 Make sure the assessment is thorough. Psychologists can find themselves in hot water
when they give an expert opinion without consulting all of the sources available. For example, a
psychologist conducting a custody evaluation fails to check with child protection services and
therefore does not learn that one parent is being investigated for child neglect--a fact that might
have changed the psychologist's opinion.
 Discuss the limitations of their work and make statements about the certainty of their
findings. If no interview is possible, note those limitations in the report. "It's equally important to
offer any plausible alternative hypotheses that would account for the data," adds Kinscherff. In
fact, in court cases where the facts are disputed, Kinscherff lays out the contradictions between
the two parties and then makes a set of recommendations based on each party's side of the story,
leaving it up to the court to decide which party is truthful.
 Ensure that tests were developed for the target population and that they are culturally
appropriate, says Sparta. If the test isn't, make the proper adjustments and note the limitations of
those adaptations in your findings. New text in APA's 2002 Ethics Code specifies that
psychologists take such measures.
10. Be accurate in billing
There's nothing more important than accuracy when it comes to billing patients and insurers for
psychological services, say ethics experts.
While sloppy bookkeeping can land some psychologists in hot water, others find themselves in
predicaments because they've worked the system to get clients more benefits than a third-party
payor entitles them to.
To avoid such ethical problems, a psychologist should:
 Bill only for services you have provided using correct procedure codes. Never bill an
insurer for a service that is covered instead of the treatment actually provided. For example, it's
improper to bill for individual therapy instead of couples therapy, for therapy instead of
psychological testing or for psychoeducational tests as if they were health-related. Moreover,
don't bill the insurance company when clients miss appointments; bill the client.
"Be accurate, conservative, and consult when in doubt," advises Ethics Committee associate
Peter Mayfield, PhD.
 Only list the dates you treated the patient. While it may be tempting to tell an insurer
that only pays for one session a week that you saw a client two Mondays in a row instead of the
Monday and Friday you actually met, psychologists should never "fudge" a treatment date.
 Call it as you see it. Occasionally, a patient might ask for a less damaging diagnosis for
fear that employers or others might find out. Or psychologists may consider exaggerating
diagnoses to justify more visits to insurers. No matter what, don't do it: "Honesty is the best
policy," says Mayfield.
 Discuss billing practices up front. "All of the financial policies need to be told to the
client at the beginning of therapy," says Eric Harris, JD, EdD, a risk management consultant for
the APA Insurance Trust. In fact, Harris recommends that psychologists ask clients to sign
informed-consent contracts that outline the financial arrangements, such as that clients will be
billed for skipped sessions and they must pay for the services if the insurer refuses coverage.
 Be conscientious about collecting fees. "When a client isn't paying their fees, you need
to raise it with them as early as possible," says Harris. "You need to set appropriate limits."
Allowing clients to run large balances isn't good for either party's finances. One solution is to
accept credit cards.
 Take caution in pursuing delinquent accounts. When psychologists use small claims
court or a collection agency to pursue debtors, they are ethically obligated to first inform the
client of their intent and give them the chance to pay. If the client does not pay, psychologists are
ethically permitted to provide only the minimum information necessary to pursue their claim.
 Watch your paperwork. Because psychologists are accountable for everything that their
offices bill, regardless of whether they ever saw the paperwork, Mayfield encourages
psychologists to personally review any document that goes out under their name.
Lastly, there's one, best strategy that psychologists can take to minimize their exposure to ethical
and legal problems, says Behnke: "Be the best psychologist you can be."

--

This Is the Best Way to React to a Request From Your Boss That Makes You Feel Uneasy

You and your boss have a completely normal and healthy professional relationship. You pride
yourselves on your open and honest communication style. You respect each other both in and out
of the office. And, you even stop and say a polite “hello” when you run into each other at the
grocery store on a Saturday afternoon.

Everything between the two of you is completely fine. Then, it happens. Your boss asks you to
do something that makes you totally uncomfortable. Whether he asked you to fire your own co-
worker, lie to another team about a project’s status, or pick up his children from daycare, your
manager’s request seems either awkward, unethical, or both.
So, what do you do? Obviously, because it’s your boss, you feel pressured to enthusiastically
agree to every direction and demand. But, your moral compass is causing your stomach to twist
into knots.

Don’t spiral into a panic yet! You can navigate your way through this sticky situation while
keeping both a clean conscience and your job. Here’s how!

1. Don’t Respond Immediately

First things first, you want to do your best to avoid replying to your boss right then and there.
This is a delicate situation, so you need to treat it as such and take some time to determine your
best course of action.

Additionally, if you feel pressured to respond in the heat of the moment, you might wind up not
being so satisfied with your answer. Either you’ll agree to the request against your better
judgment, or you’ll stutter and stammer your way through a meek and uncertain refusal that
could be interpreted as offensive.

2. Evaluate the Situation

Now that you’ve managed to remove yourself from the conversation (at least for a little while),
it’s time to mull over your boss’ request and determine what exactly is making you uneasy.

Is this task something that makes you uncomfortable simply because it’s outside of your standard
job duties, or is it actually an unethical or unreasonable demand? Do you need to get somebody
else in the office involved? Would completing this request significantly help your boss out and
push your career forward, or does it present serious risk of damage to your professional
reputation and personal ethics? Or worse, could you get in trouble or fired?

It’s difficult to figure out exactly how you want to respond until you know the root of your
anxiety. So, make sure you take some time to figure that out.
3. Determine Your Best Method for Response

So, you’ve determined how you want to move forward. Now, it’s time to let your boss know.
But, should you set up an appointment to talk it over with him or her in person? Or, will a simple
email suffice?

Well, typically your best rule of thumb is to respond using the same communication channel that
your manager used to make the request. If your boss asked you in person, then you’ll want to talk
it over with him or her that same way. However, if your supervisor sent a brief email to ask
something of you, you can reply in that same message. And, if the demand was indeed unethical,
remember to save that email thread! You might need it.

4. Craft Your Response

Determining how you want to respond is one thing. But, figuring out exactly what to say is a
completely separate battle. Whether you’re agreeing to your boss’ request or turning it down,
you want to do so in a way that’s concise, eloquent, and clearly states your expectations.

So, what the heck do you say? Well, it depends on the situation.

If You’re Agreeing

Well, this one’s pretty easy! Say something along the lines of, “I’d be happy to take care of that
for you today. Do you anticipate this becoming a regular part of my job duties? Or, is this a one-
time thing?” This ensures that you’re on the same page about what exactly you’re agreeing to.

If You’re Turning Your Boss Down

Perhaps the request isn’t unethical per se, but it’s not something you’re not completely at ease
with doing (remember to be reasonable with this, by the way—you still need to actually do your
job). Try responding with, “I’m sorry, but I’m just not comfortable completing that task. Is there
something else I can do to help you out? Please let me know.”

This shows your boss that you’re not willing to ignore your conscience in order to blindly follow
any demand, but you’re still prepared to help him or her out with sensible requests.
If You’re Confident the Request Is Unethical

Needing to respond to a completely unethical and immoral request opens up an entirely new can
of worms. If your boss made the demand in an email, often your best bet is to print the message
and head straight to HR without responding directly. However, if you’re engaged in an in-person
conversation that requires you to react immediately, take a deep breath and say, “That request
feels unethical to me, and I just don’t feel comfortable doing it.” It’s very likely your boss is
aware of that fact and won’t push you any harder after you vocalize it. However, you should still
follow that up with a visit to your HR department just to get it all in writing.

5. Document It

Of course, this step is really only important if your boss’ demand was unethical. So, if your
manager asked you to do something that seemed dishonorable or shady, you absolutely need to
keep documentation of the incident.

Again, if the exchange occurred via email, ensure that you hang onto those messages. If nothing
else, mark down the date and time and record a brief summary of the exchange. It might not hold
as much water as the words straight out of your boss’ mouth, but it counts for something in a
pinch.

The dynamic between you and your boss can be somewhat delicate. And, when your supervisor
asks you to do something that makes you uneasy, your relationship can become even trickier.
Follow these steps in order to get through the uncomfortable conversation with both your
conscience and your professional reputation intact!

--

7 Ways To Respond When Your Boss Asks You To Do Something Unethical

Saying a principled “no” to your boss isn’t easy, so let the experts show you how.

You’re not going to be thrilled with every assignment you’re given, with every task you’re asked
to carry out, with every project you’re instructed to oversee. That’s the reality of having a job.
It’s a lot like life–you take the good with the bad and the annoying or boring.

But, navigating tedious responsibilities or work that doesn’t stoke your fire is a far cry from
handling a request from your boss that requires you to basically throw a colleague under the bus.
If your manager approaches you about taking one for the team, framing it as an item that’s
simply part of your job and something that has to be done, you’re probably not going to feel
good about it.

If you have any kind of moral compass and a reluctance to injure a team member’s reputation or
inaccurately blame a coworker for a project gone wrong, then you’ll likely want to find a way
to say no to your supervisor without risking your position at the company.

Just because the request isn’t illegal or even really unethical doesn’t mean you have no choice
but to heed the demand. There’s a big picture here, and if you ignore it just to appease your
manager, you could come to regret it later.

1. REPEAT THE REQUEST

Share with your boss what you think the task is so that you are 100% clear about her request.
Saying it aloud before acting on it may also help your manager see why and how she’s put you in
an uncomfortable position. If, after repeating it, you’re still expected to carry out the request and
you’re feeling apprehensive, speak up. Clearly, tell your boss–face-to-face is best–why you’re
not cool with it.

2. INVESTIGATE WITH QUESTIONS

If you find yourself in this awkward situation, one of the most powerful strategies you can
deploy is asking probing questions. Skilled conflict mediators know that digging for information
about the other person’s agenda, interests, and needs increases the chance of arriving at a
favorable solution.

Put on your negotiator hat and say to your boss with confidence, “I’m not sure I grasp the
reasoning behind sharing those details with the entire company. Can you help me understand the
approach?” This expresses interest and curiosity on your part, while also subtly communicating
an assertion of boundaries, maturity, and professionalism.

You’re demonstrating that you make informed, measured decisions. Using psychologically
disarming questioning ensures neither side becomes defensive and helps you set the stage for a
fruitful back-and-forth dialogue with your boss.
3. CONSIDER THE BIG PICTURE

Any request from a manager needs to be considered relative to the long-term impact on the
company and your standards for personal integrity. If you feel a request would violate either of
these, you have an obligation to express your concerns before agreeing to take any action. If
you’re pressed to follow through with the request, simply say no and explain your reasoning.

Just be prepared to stick to your guns and suffer the consequences. A healthy organization will
look at the full context of a situation before taking action. And if it doesn’t or if you’re singled
out by a manager, you probably don’t want to work there anyway. Keep good notes and be ready
to explain to new employers what happened and why you left.

4. ENLIGHTEN YOUR BOSS

I once had a similar instance with a director at the company (who was not my boss, but still
senior to me). We were scoping out a client project, and there was a lot of internal disagreement
over a specific component of the project. We were asked to have a back-up solution in place for
a highly unlikely scenario. Although it was highly improbable that we’d need this alternate fix,
we had to devise it based on the client’s marketing plan.

Unsure whether we were capable of creating that back-up solution in the timeframe given, I was,
nonetheless, instructed by the director to tell the client that the deadline wasn’t a problem. I felt
very uncomfortable misleading the client, and so I decided to be straight up with my supervisor
on the project, “If I gave the phone to you, would you be able to tell them the same thing in good
conscience?”

He admitted that no, he wouldn’t be able to do that, and I think at that moment he saw the error
in what he was asking me to do. We, ultimately, ended up figuring out a way to build the
solution the client was looking for, and we didn’t lie to them. Sometimes, it’s going to be up to
you to show your boss the problematic nature of his request.

5. OFFER AN ALTERNATE SOLUTION

Be honest in a diplomatic and tactful way. Let your boss know that you’re uncomfortable with
the request, but don’t just leave it at that. If you’re going to take issue with something, it’s
always best if you can offer a solution.

Brainstorm a better, more professional way of handling his request and suggest an alternate
approach. If your idea is rejected, continue to stand your ground and explain that you’re hopeful
that you can find a way to work together to develop another way of dealing with the issue.

6. BE A TEAM PLAYER

Bosses come and go, but your sense of justice and conscience are with you for life. Of course,
you still need a paycheck, and, thus, a way to handle moral ambiguity in the office.
Navigate a distasteful request from your boss by bringing up the team. Assuming your
organization values teamwork, say, “We talk a lot in this company about teamwork–about
winning and losing as a team. As such, neither I nor the rest of the team feel it’s fair for me or
any other single person to shoulder the responsibility for the failure of this project. It also sends
the wrong message to the other team members. We’ll recover and rebuild. But let’s not just talk
about being a team, let’s be one in spite of this obstacle.”

By sending the message that it’s not just you who feels this way but the entire team, you’re
showing respect for your colleagues and refusing to throw anyone under the bus. It’s unlikely
that your boss will fire or censure the entire team.

7. ARTICULATE YOUR CONCERNS

There is no doubt that this scenario presents a tricky situation of power. When a supervisor asks
you to do something you don’t want to do, it’s always challenging to walk the line of honoring
your values and being professional.

However, in an instance in which the request is so clearly antithetical to common tenets of strong
team culture and positive leadership, it’s especially important to hold your ground. Explain what
makes you uncomfortable about the approach; lean on the company culture (if possible) of
promoting collaboration and team efficacy.

You can also note that it’s more important to figure out a strong way forward as opposed to
placing blame on the past breakdown or failure. Your boss is more likely to be impressed by
your pushback and dedication to your team than frustrated by your unwillingness to abide by the
request. At the end of the day, you want to feel comfortable that you can live with your actions,
even if you don’t love your leader’s.

--
What Do You Do When Your Boss Is Unethical?
The other day, someone asked me about the last time my ethics had been tested at work and how
I reacted.

I wasn’t sure how to respond. It’s a good question, and I wanted to answer it. Still, I hesitated to
reveal too much about some of the less-than-honest bosses I’ve reported to in the last two
decades.

These are bosses who lied, gossiped about their staff to other staff, broke confidences, fudged
numbers to governmental agencies, botched payroll tax withholdings and covered it up, and
willfully and recklessly turned a blind eye to leadership abuse — for starters.

The truth is, HR folks get their ethics tested on a regular basis. However, that doesn’t make it
easy to deal with.
 When your boundaries are tested
I’ve written about boundary issues more than once, and the reason I write so much on the topic is
that I believe boundary violations are at the heart of much workplace unhappiness.

And of all the ways a boss can cross the line, one of the most troublesome is when he or she
requests that we compromise our ethical code.

Observing an unethical boss in action is unsettling enough; being expected to participate can be
excruciating. We know what’s right, but we hesitate to do it. Why?

Here’s why:

 Your boss makes it sound reasonable — Government bureaucrats and their nonsensical

rules! We could never be 100 percent compliant no matter how hard we try, and no one really
expects us to try. So, let’s fudge some stuff and move on. Everybody does it, nobody cares, and
we have customers to serve/a mission to fulfill/shareholders to appease, etc. This small
transgression (if you even want to call it that) is nothing compared to the greater good that’s
being accomplished by us.
 Your boss knows more than you do — Your gut is telling you loud and clear that
something is off, but your boss pooh-poohs your concerns with some management mumbo
jumbo that (kind of) convinces you that your gut is mistaken and that you don’t know enough
about (fill-in-the-blank) to make an accurate assessment of the situation.
 Fear — You fear that standing in opposition to your boss will cost you something you
hold dear, such as your boss’ approval, coveted assignments, a promotion, or even your job.
 Peer pressure — Nobody else has a problem doing X, what makes you so special?
 Desire to get along — Truth be told, you don’t feel like you’re getting paid enough to
fight these kinds of battles. Let your boss do whatever he or she wills. You’ll make sure to cover
your rear should the you-know-what hits the you-know-what.
 Desire to get ahead — You tell yourself that if this is what it takes to advance within the
company, then this is what it takes. You’re only following orders, after all.

Well, here’s the problem. (Actually, there are two problems.)

 Problem 1 — If you’re the decent sort (and most people are) eventually your
conscience will get the better of you, and you’ll begin to resent an employer who asks things of
you that shouldn’t be asked, and that’s only after you start hating yourself.
 Problem 2 — Unethical boundary pushers are never content to hit you up once and
call it a day. When they realize you’re willing to play ball, they’ll come back time and again,
assuming your willingness to participate in the unsavory.

Here’s what you can do

So, what can you do about your unethical boss?
 Politely say no. Now is not the time to hurl forth a heated stream of righteous indignation
your manager’s way about what an immoral jerk he is. Nope. Instead, something like “Hmmm …
I’m not comfortable back dating this disciplinary memo, because it’s unethical” is a better bet.
Your boss won’t like it, but can she really disagree?
 Find a compromise. If there’s a way to meet your boss’ objective without sliver-ing over
to the dark side, your job is to find that way. You’ll keep your boss off your back and your
conscience clear, and that’s a win-win.
 Find another job. This is the least attractive option, I’ll grant you, but if your values and
the values of your boss/organization are seriously out of whack, a separation is inevitable.
Whether your boss gets tired of hearing your “no” or you get tired of his (or her) sleazy ways,
something, at some point, is gonna give.
 File a complaint. If things get really bad, you may want to have a chat with someone in
HR (assuming you aren’t the top person in HR). If there is no one else, and you have good
reason to believe your boss’s boss is fine with the status quo, you might want to consider filing a
complaint outside the company (and consulting an attorney). Of course, a step this drastic can
have major consequences, so make sure your ducks are in a row first. And that brings me to …
 CYA. Let’s say your boss remains firm in his opinion that creating a file after the fact to
justify disciplinary action is morally upright. Okay. Document the entire conversation and then
place your notes in a nice safe place, because it’s not unheard of for HR folks to be held
personally liable in lawsuits and that’s what I’d call adding insult to injury in a case like this.
Later, you’ll want to have a heart to heart with yourself about whether you want to work in a
place that has so little regard for your professional opinion and (perhaps) the law, but first things
first.
 Start a revolution. Are you one of those rare HR folks with real power?
Congratulations! Maybe you’re in the perfect position to persuade other leaders within your
organization that an Ethics Committee would be a great idea. Sometimes all employees need to
do the right thing is their employer’s permission.

When you routinely deal in rules, policies, and people (as HR pros do), ethical dilemmas are
bound to occur, and everyone working in HR should expect them.

However, there’s a big difference between facing an ethical dilemma and facing a boss who
wants to resolve the dilemma in an unethical manner.

That said, how you face that boss will mark you forever, so decide wisely.

--
What To Do When Your Boss Is Unethical

When I was conducting my research that led to the Burnout During Organizational Change
Model (B-DOC), I asked my participants to identify what they believed led to their burnout.  I
didn’t offer any potential choices relating to what I thought caused burnout.  So, one particular
finding left me, well, flabbergasted:
A disturbing 57.1% of my participants believed that their burnout was either caused or
exacerbated by their manager’s requests for them to take ILLEGAL OR UNETHICAL
ACTIONS.
This was over half of my participants!  An even more disturbing finding was that these requests
were more prominent in participants who worked in nonprofit environments (66.7%) compared
to those in for-profits (50%).
According to one female non-profit change leader, she felt that she had somehow become
involved with “dirty people” because there were multiple requests for her to take illegal or
unethical actions.
Another male for-profit change leader was adamant that he would not take the actions requested
of him by his manager, stating, “I’m not going to do it.  I won’t.  It goes against everything I
believe in.”  His manager’s response was simply, “You have to.”
What do you do when your boss asks – or even demands – that you take actions that you believe
are unethical or know are illegal?  Sadly, this appears to be a growing challenge for the modern
worker.
SOME REASONS FOR UNETHICAL REQUESTS
Organizations are beginning to demand a higher level of ethics in their employees’ conduct. 
Despite demanding that all employees read and sign the organization’s corporate ethics and
compliance policy, the projected moral and legal commitments may not materialize.
The sad reality is that corporate ethics have been under increasing scrutiny as a result of a
hypercompetitive marketplace.  When the competition is significant (even staggering), company
leaders may resort to making business decisions that require employees to take actions that may
not necessarily be illegal, but can be perceived as unethical.
While some of these decisions have led to public scandal and disgrace (such as Enron), it appears
that far too many companies are “flying under the radar” of conventional ethics, yet still
achieving success.  For example, companies may use misleading product information or unfair
competition practices in order to gain market share.  Corporate financial reports may be
manipulated to cast a better light on their financials.
Any and all of these unethical decisions are made by employees.
In today’s űber competitive marketplace, some managers believe that a strong commitment to
ethical behavior unfairly limits their ability to create desired organizational results.  So, they
rationalize the underlying ethos of their decisions and demand that their subordinates do the
same.
In other words, organizational demands can create a powerful environment in
which ethical people behave unethically. 
A recent article in the Harvard Business Review noted that, although there has been progress in
building more ethical enterprises, 41% of surveyed workers reported seeing ethical misconduct
in their workplaces within the previous 12 months.
The ways in which unethical behaviors are displayed in the workplace vary.  In my research,
participants characterized their managers’ behaviors as unethical when there was constant
swearing, inappropriate comments, yelling, screaming, and even harassment.  Such poor
communication was a precursor to burnout in 64.3% of cases.  This lack of values-based, ethical
management practices led to treatment of employees that bordered on being inhumane.
Put another way, burned out employees were often the victims of unethical bullying by
managers.
Bullying is defined as “any unwanted behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated, degraded,
humiliated or offended.”  According to ACAS (a nonprofit in the U.K.), bullying and harassment
are similar unethical workplace behaviors which may or may not be readily apparent in the
workplace.
Even though they are similar, “harassment” under U.S. law has special meaning and protections
that are not  afforded to bullying.  According to research conducted by the Workplace Bullying
Institute, most bullying is not accompanied by illegal harassment – meaning that:
80% of bullying provides NO legal recourse for its victims. 
Although there are currently no laws against bullying in the U.S., it is gratifying that 30 states
and 2 territories have introduced anti-bullying legislation in The Healthy Workplace Bill.
The importance of anti-bullying law is reinforced due to the rise in such behavior across
organizational hierarchies.  In 2018, Forbes magazine reported that nearly 75% of employees
have been affected by workplace bullying.  Whether the bullying is initiated by a supervisor or a
coworker, it is always considered to be a type of power struggle between the parties.
NOTE:  Although the participants in my research did not specifically cite “bullying” as a cause
of their burnout, bullies tend to be poor leaders and withhold resources.  This combination of
poor leadership and a lack of necessary organizational resources to do the job was cited by
92.9% of my participants.  Additionally, the lack of organizational caring (which are often
displayed in the tactics by used by bullying managers) contributed to burnout in 85.7% overall.
HOW TO RESPOND TO UNETHICAL REQUESTS
Whether these managerial requests are the result of a culture that tolerates such behavior or
reflect a management personality that uses power (or bullying) to pressure workers to behave
unethically, the individual must still deal with  the effects of these requests.
A recent New York Times article gave the benefit of the doubt to the manager:  perhaps your boss
made the unethical request unwittingly.  Similarly, a BusinessInsider.com article warned of the
importance in making sure that you fully understand the situation surrounding your boss’s
unethical request.
However, once such a request has been made, the quandary for many workers lies in
the potential ramifications of complying:

 Will you be held complicit and liable if the unethical request is discovered?
 Will you face retaliation if you report the unethical request to your boss’s boss or HR?
 If you comply, will subsequent requests require even greater ethical challenges?
 Finally, can you continue to work in an environment in which you must act in a way that
undermines your ethics and values – even if you are dependent upon your paycheck?
These fears of potential retaliation, demotion, or job loss may be justified.  In a National
Business Ethics survey conducted by the Ethics and Compliance Initiative in 2016, 53% of U.S.
workers who reported misconduct were retaliated against!
So, what can you do when your boss asks you to act in a way that you believe is unethical?
 Ask questions. One of the most simple ways to avoid unethical behaviors is to understand
the true nature of the request.  Often times an unethical request may simply be an
expedient way of solving a problem (in other words, your boss was “too busy” to
consider ethical issues).  Before reacting strongly and emotionally, ask your manager to
repeat the request so that you can clarify what he or she is specifically asking you to do –
then paraphrase this understanding back to him or her.
 Trust your gut. If after fully understanding what your manager is requesting and you
intuitively know that the act is unethical, explain to your boss why you feel
uncomfortable following the directive.
 Focus on creating a more ethical approach to solve the problem. If “cutting corners” to
expedite an activity feels unethical to you, mutually brainstorm other ways that your boss
can still achieve the desired outcomes and you can feel comfortable with the desired
actions.  If an initial conversation doesn’t work, then put your ideas into an email – you’ll
then have a record as to why you are not complying with a request to do something that
you believe is unethical.
 Don’t tolerate being bullied into doing something unethical. If you boss insists that you
perform an unethical task, he or she may use pressure, coercion, or intimidation to force
you to comply.  DON’T!  Many requests that start out as unethical may ultimately lead to
legal consequences.
SOME REASONS FOR ILLEGAL REQUESTS
Quite frankly, there are none.
Managers who knowingly or unwittingly ask their subordinates to engage in activities that are
illegal will still be held liable for the consequences – as you will be, too, since you complied with
the illegal request.
The challenge is how to protect yourself in the event of a lawsuit stemming from these illegal
actions.
HOW TO RESPOND TO ILLEGAL REQUESTS
The good news is that you may have legal claims against your employer if you suffer retaliation
for refusing to take an illegal action at work or if you were a whistleblower who reported the
illegal activity.  In addition to laws protecting whistleblowers (always check with an attorney!),
there may be grounds for wrongful termination pursuant to relevant state laws.
NOTE:  Don’t assume your legal standing –
always check with an attorney experienced in employment law!
If you have been asked to take illegal action, this is a time when you MUST take a stand and
refuse.  As previously mentioned, taking the illegal action even if you disagree with it is NOT an
adequate defense in a lawsuit.
To protect yourself, consider the following ideas:
 Escalate your concerns. Talk to your boss’s manager in an effort to resolve the problem. 
Speak to someone in your company’s HR department – ideally a manager who has the
authority to act upon this information.  Ask your company’s compliance manager for
advice as to how to proceed.
 Be prepared that your boss may retaliate against you. No, it isn’t right.  No, it isn’t
ethical.  And, yes, it may be illegal.  But sadly retaliation is all too common.
 Be prepared that your employer may do nothing in response to your questions or
complaints. This is a cultural issue – and an organizational culture that supports unethical
or illegal behaviors will do little to assist an employee who refuses to comply.
 Be prepared to address coworkers’ comments. Although you should ideally keep the
confidentiality of your boss’s request to engage in illegal conduct, the office grapevine
can still find out.  Once again, this is a cultural issue:  you might be viewed as either a
hero for refusing to act illegally or you might be viewed as a “snitch” who doesn’t fit
with the corporate culture.
 Make sure your resume is ready in case you need to find a new job. As previously
mentioned, many employees are retaliated against when they fail to comply with a
manager’s request – even if it is unethical or illegal.  The question is:  do you want to
stay in a culture that advocates unethical or illegal behavior AND are you prepared for
the legal consequences of being complicit?
An unethical boss is the bane of an ethical employee’s existence plus it can be an environmental
factor that leads to the psychological, emotional, and physical űber stress of burnout.
If you’re currently employed at the company, you have some important decisions to make:  Is the
unethical or illegal request a one-time issue OR is it an indication of the corporate culture?  If
you stay with your employer, can you handle the emotional strain of staying in an organization
whose values do not align with your own?  And, finally, is the risk of potential civil or criminal
charges against you due to your complicity worth it?
Remember:  Unethical or illegal management requests can not only place you into potential
legal jeopardy, but can also cause you to burn out!

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How to Protect Yourself from an Unethical Boss

Do you ever feel pressured to compromise your ethics at work? Maybe your boss asks you to lie
and say he is at a meeting when he really went golfing, or a supervisor asks you to turn a blind
eye when some petty cash goes missing?
You are not alone: nearly 10 percent of workers reported feeling this way in a 2013 Ethics
Resource Center survey.
The Kellogg School’s Maryam Kouchaki wants to help workers feel less powerless in these
situations—not by coming up with the perfect way to reject unethical requests, but by preventing
them in the first place.
Her new research shows that displaying a “moral symbol,” such as a religious icon, a poster of a
spiritual figure like Gandhi, or an ethically relevant quotation, can serve as a kind of amulet
against corruption in the workplace. It works both by stimulating moral awareness in others and
by creating the perception that the displayer possesses a high moral character.
“The idea is that being authentically moral and being proud of that and showing that can have
positive consequences,” says Kouchaki, an assistant professor of management and organizations.
A “Necklace of Garlic” to Ward Off an Unethical Boss?
This is the same reasoning used by medieval villagers who, rather than passively waiting for
Dracula to swoop down on leathery wings, adorned themselves with magical totems to ward off
vampires.
“We keep hearing stories of people saying that they had to do unethical things to keep their job,
because they were asked to do them, and they felt they couldn’t say no.”
But while no one has yet produced a peer-reviewed paper on the protective efficacy of crucifixes
and holy water, Kouchaki and Sreedhari Desai at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School have
conducted six studies to test their hypothesis. They published the results in a new paper
in Academy of Management Journal, “Moral Symbols: A Necklace of Garlic Against Unethical
Requests.”
“We keep hearing stories of people saying that they had to do unethical things to keep their job,
because they were asked to do them, and they felt they couldn’t say no,” Kouchaki says. “We
wanted to figure out if there is a way that someone could say no in a subtle but effective way to
prevent such difficult situations in the first place.”
When Money and Morality Collide
In one of the paper’s studies, 148 college students were asked to play a game with prize money
at stake. Each participant was told that he or she would oversee two other teammates, “Pat” and
“Sam.” (In reality, Pat and Sam were fictitious.) Then participants were shown emails in which
their teammates introduced themselves. For some participants, Pat’s introductory email
contained a morally themed quotation; for others, it did not. Sam’s email contained no quotation
at all.
The quotation—“Better to fail with honor than succeed by fraud”—was carefully chosen to seem
both low-key and appropriate to a business setting, Kouchaki says. “It isn’t super virtuous,
because we didn’t want the person to inspire contempt in others by coming off as holier-than-
thou, and because we wanted it to seem realistic and natural.”
In the game, participants had to decide whether a teammate would send an honest message or a
deceptive message to another team—as well as which teammate would send it. The honest
message, participants were told, would likely result in their team losing $18 of their earnings,
while the deceptive message would likely result in their team losing only $3. In both cases, the
subordinate sending the message would not know whether it was deceptive or not.
Sixty-four percent of participants who were not exposed to the ethical quotation opted to send
the deceptive message, while only 46 percent of those who saw the ethical quotation did so.
Not only that, but those who saw the ethical quotation and still decided to send the deceptive
message were more likely to choose Sam (whose email included no quotation) as the messenger.
A subsequent experiment found similar protective effects for avatars when they wore t-shirts
with the names of web sites (YourMorals.org, for example) printed on them.
Meaning the necklace of garlic worked.
“We have a tendency to avoid making things dirty that are clean,” Kouchaki says, pointing to
anthropological and psychological literature that suggests people find it innately immoral to
defile objects or beings perceived as pure. The study participants may have avoided asking the
subordinate they perceived as moral to complete an immoral task because doing so would have
been doubly immoral.
Or, she points out, it may simply be that seeing a moral symbol consciously or unconsciously
increases moral awareness in the viewer.
Taking It to the Real World
To test these findings in the field, Kouchaki and Desai conducted a survey of 104 superior–
subordinate pairs from a variety of organizations in India, where religious icons are frequently
displayed at work. The survey asked the superiors about their subordinate’s work performance,
relationship with the superior, tendency to display moral symbols, and moral character.
Meanwhile, subordinates were asked how often their superiors gave them unethical directives, as
well as how often their superiors stopped by their desks.
The authors found that subordinates who displayed moral symbols were more likely to be
considered by their supervisors to have high moral character and less likely to have been asked to
compromise their moral standards at work. Not only that, but “we show no potential backlash
and no difference in performance ratings,” Kouchaki says.
In other words, displaying moral symbols did not appear to negatively affect the superior’s
feelings about the subordinate. Likewise, when participants in the email experiment were later
asked whether they thought the emails from Sam and Pat had affected their decision to pass
along ethical or unethical messages, none of the participants said that the emails had been a
factor.
This is no small matter. The Ethics Resource Center survey found that 21 percent of employees
who reported misconduct said they experienced retaliation.
And just how broadly protective is that crucifix or Ghandi poster? Kouchaki is quick to note that
this research focuses primarily on unethical behaviors related to money. More work is needed to
determine whether moral symbols can protect against other types of corruption, such as racial
discrimination or sexual harassment. Her hunch is that they would.
“There isn’t enough research about how people who don’t have power can make a difference,”
Kouchaki says. “We want people to feel that no matter what, they have control over their
situations, and that there are things they can do to prevent questionable behaviors from others.”

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If Asked to Do Something Illegal or Unethical, How Should You Act?

Working means fulfilling your staff member service instructions and accomplishing tasks your
boss assigns to you. But while most of the tasks are just everyday routine chores, some
commands may put you in a double bind. Moreover, in cases, when your superior manager asks
you to do something illegal or clearly unethical, you can find yourself in the seemingly lose-
lose situation: do it – and you could face fines or even jail time; speak up – and you could get
under pressure or even fired.

You Always Have Options of What to Do

Yet, always remember that you should never break the law. So, consider these steps you could
take when life and your boss confront you with some unethical or illegal requests.
 Plan your actions. Don’t wait until the described situation will catch you off balance and
plan ahead. Thoroughly think about what you would do and how you would act when faced
the request to act inappropriately. The purpose of this exercise is to get you prepared and be
able to think rationally, not emotionally.
 Always keep in mind that “I was just following orders” is not a legit excuse in the face of
the law and criminal justice.
 The same goes for “I didn’t know that this is illegal!” explanation – ignorance of the law
is no excuse.
 Be mensch enough to do not comply. Saying “I will not do what you ask” is a right way
to start.
 Gather documents and evidence about how the situation came to the point of breaking the
law. Written notes, emails, voice recordings, etc. – everything will do.
 Letting your Hunan Resources staff know about the situation you are in can help, too.
 Another department that you might want to consider reporting to is Legal.
 In some organizations, there is a special hotline where employees can report on ethical
problems arising as a worker fulfills his or her duties. Of course, all communications on such
hotline are held
 If there is no such hotline in your company, you may address relevant governmental
organizations with the issue, for example, Securities and Exchange Commission or
Department of Labor.
 Consult with or/and hire a lawyer.
 Get an alternative view of the issue by talking to someone you trust and who is
knowledgeable enough – a good friend, a mentor or a spouse.
 Update your resume – just in case.

Let’s hope that you won’t find yourself in a situation when all the recommendations above need
to be applied. Yet, as the old saying goes, hope for the best, prepare for the worst. And use
intentionality, which is an emotional intelligence competency requiring you to realize and take
responsibility for your motives and for your actions. Regarding the matter of this article,
intentionality means fairly answering yourself the question “Will I do something illegal or
unethical?” Just “yes” or “no” without anything in between. If it is a “no”, then our tips will
come in handy for you when the time comes.

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Unethical requests from supervisors
A recent TechRepublic poll found that a majority of members had been asked to do something
unethical by their supervisor. What about you? If you have been asked to do something you
thought was unethical, tell us about it. What was the request, and what did you do about it? What
CAN you do? Are you darned if you do, and darned if you don't?
There is a grey area in the realm of the unethical. Each person will need to define what that grey
area is.

When I know that something is unethical, I will always state my case as to why it is so.
Depending on the severity will depend on if I will do it or not.

If your supervisor is asking you to do something that is clearly a violation of corporate policy or
the law, you do not have to do it.

If it is a grey area, then you will need to figure out what will happen if the chips go down. Can
you state that you were just following orders or can you be severly implicated in improper
conduct.

Whenever I have been asked before to do unethical things(not by my supervisor), like hack into
netwks, read e-mails, give access, etc, I will state that it is a security violation and I will not do it.

I'll admit that when I started my career fresh out of university, I learned of an accounting practise
at my first employer which was not GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) which was
done to show a more stable revenue growth. I did play a part in gathering information, but didn't
committ the deed - though the senior management up to the president were well aware of it. As a
privately held company the people being fooled were the owners.

What was happening had to do with consistency in revenue recognition. In other words, when it
was a good month, some sales were not recognised to boost the next month, whereas if it was a
poor month, some sales were brought forward, even though technically they shouldn't have been.

Since then I have worked for "better" companies and never had the issue come up. Having
worked with auditors, both internal and external, and quite closely with senior management in
large companies, I would be much more careful about doing it, as I better understand the
consequences.

You can't trust someone that is willing to do the unethical, and in our business trust is a HUGE
part of why people keep us there in the long run. Once a network admin breaks trust, even for
their company, they are always suspect even if they're notreading the companies e-mail.
Someone may praise you in the short term, but in the long term you will be known as not
trustworthy and therefore not suitable for top networking positions.
The most unethical company I worked for was in violation of banking regulations regarding
staffing levels in a mainframe data center. The operators were scheduled to work 12 hours shifts
alone, and then told that it was corporate policy that we hadto take a 30 minute lunch break
AWAY from the computer room. Since we couldn't eat in the computer room, and to meet
corporate policy, we had to leave the computer room unattended for 30 mintues every day, in
direct violation of the banking rules.

So when faced with such a choice, break banking regulations or corporate policy, what can you
do? I wanted very much to report the management to the auditors, but also desparately needed
the job. My compromise was to get an email from my manager saying that operators would not
be held accountable for anything that happened in the computer room during lunch break, but I
don't think that would have held up in court. What would you have done?
To me it sounds like you handled it well. You brought it to the attention of your supervisor and
got it in writing. I don't really know much about banking law, but generally I would try to effect
change within. You have done this step by making people aware. It also sounds like you also
found a new job whare I assume you are more comfortable. This would be my other suggestion,
especially if you know your company is choosing to be unethical. They probably won't be
treating their employees ethically as well in time.

Our superior's job security is as important to them as it is to us, ergo- damned if you damned if
you don't. So we do. There appears to be no loyalty at any level of the IT world. Very dog eat
dog. I know I was victimized once and I will never let it happen again. If my boss wants me to
get intelligence on my colleagues he can do it himself. It sucked to be used!

I had a new job several years ago where the Exec. VP (my boss's boss) asked me to look into the
relationship between my boss & a vendor he was using that happened to be a friend of his. At
first, I didn't think anything funny was going on, but as time went on I did. Of course, since my
boss knew what I was doing, it strained our relationship. When I brought my concerns to the VP,
he said that only he could fire me since he had hired me. Can you guess the ending? A few
weeks later I was fired by my boss. You're so right. Let them do their own spying.

and it cost you, but doing the wrong thing would have cost you your integrity, which is more
valuable than any job.

My boss asked me to 'watch for noncompliant behavior' of one of my team members. Since she
was an excellent programmer who consistently did good work, this puzzled me - until he
explained that 'those people' cause trouble. It turned out that 'those people' can be identified by
skin color.
I went straight to HR and said I refused to be a party to harassment. Both the team member & I
were transferred. And the boss got moved to a 'consulting' role.