Have you ever quit a job due to personal ethics?

Yes – while working at a public school my classroom had no PA system, no telephone, and no intercom to the main office. In an emergency, like a fire drill, my students and I couldn’t hear vital information, i.e., our lives were in jeapardy in an emergency. For $100 they could install wireless intercom – but when the principal balked, I raised holy hell and refused to go back. Right is Might.

@joli: Perhaps your Boss is engaging in his own version of civil disobedience. Perhaps he has a problem with your Landlord discriminating against non-union labor. To play devil’s advocate, perhaps he sees the underrepresentation of minorities in many unions and believes he is preventing discrimination against minority labor. And if you’re concerned about arrogance, perhaps you can understand it smacks a little of arrogance on your part to suggest it is your obligation as an employee to “be a learning curve for the Boss.” Is your concern truly your Boss’ failure to comply with his lease, or is your concern the use of nonunion labor? Is your office a closed shop? If so, then to be consistent perhaps you should go ahead and demand unionization or you will quit. Regardless, since you believe so strongly in ethics, I suggest it is only fair to completely disclose to your Boss, first, any ethical lapses you have had (got any work office supplies at home? took too long a lunch break? spent time on fluther during work hours? personal phone calls at work?) and further, that you believe it is part of your duties as an employee to second guess his business and ethical decisions. I’m not being sarcastic, I mean this literally. That way, he can decide whether you should continue to take his paychecks. If the language in the lease merely says Boss can’t use nonunion labor, then it seems the intent of this language is to be protectionist, and perhaps inappropriate for a lease, and may itself be questionable ethically. I’ve always found it curious unions, which allege to provide a superior product, find it necessary to engage in protectionist activity rather than compete in a free marketplace. On the other hand, if the language suggests Boss is supposed to obtain Landlord’s approval of the contractor, then that language is probably intended to protect the Landlord from inferior work done on their premises, and then it would indeed be unethical for Boss to sneak in unapproved contractors. Regardless, if you are going to take a stand, it is important you do so publicly. Going behind Boss’ back so you can keep your job would be cowardly.

That said, I have refused to take many clients, and fired some clients, when it became apparent to me their intent was to ensure painful, harassing litigation rather than to assert a genuine position. Yes, everyone is entitled to competent counsel, but that counsel doesn’t always have to be me.

It is specific in the lease that it is a “union only building for contractors”. They said we can use whomever we like as long as they belong to the union and place the landlord on their insurance policy. He’s planning to bring workers in this upcoming labor day weekend and said he’ll handle any problem the building may have with him. We’re in a 26 Floor downtown office building. I’ve been working in this building for 25 years and am thinking about MY reputation and relationship with management. He’s a newbie of 2 years. I’m not trying be be high and mighty. I’m not telling him what to do. I didn’t go behind his back for info, I gathered info by default in conversation removing some shelving, at which point I passed the info onto him and he turned pale. I think he’s making a costly mistake! They were very serious about their position. No, I don’t shirk on the Boss, or anyone for that matter and dishonesty bothers me. At least, I wish he’d told me the work was being done undercover instead of finding out in the middle of it.

Yes – I worked for a really homophobic company. Every now and then people would question me on why i was still single and why i lived with my ‘bestfriend’. I couldn’t stand it any longer – came out and handed in my notice. I also remember a senior member of staff telling me i was a girl doing a mans job and thats why i wouldn’t get a promotion. Funny really – i bet i earn more than him now.

In addition to all of the many wrongs with your employer even caring who you live with, juicyful, I find it lamentable there evidently is no room in our society for two people of the same gender to live together without it being assumed, by homophobe and homophile alike, that they are having a homosexual relationship. What should two people of the same gender do, who may very well be best friends, if they wish company and the financial benefit of a roommate but prefer not to have the possibility of “more than friendship” interfering with being roommates? Perhaps the two people living together are both heterosexual but prefer to have a home free of the social pressure they may feel with an “opposite sex” roommate. I have a friend who is a heterosexual junior high teacher in a very conservative town. He has had girlfriends from time to time, none of which have worked out. He doubts he could feel comfortable, for moral and other reasons, living with a female, even platonically. He can’t possibly have a male roommate, because he feels, as a junior high teacher and a musician, everyone in town will assume he is gay and it will affect his job. He feels compelled to live alone, even though he can barely afford it.

I’ve worked in a modeling agency outfit where they Would overcharge minors and their parents for photos. Also I think I forgot to mention I was the one who called these people in to setup the appointment and give them false hopes. Only lasted there for two months couldn’t handle scamming people.