Ethics deals with questions and subjects at all levels. Its subject consists of the fundamental issues of practical decision making, and its major concerns include the nature of high values and the standards by which human actions can be judged by right or wrong. This is based on areas such as culture, socio-economic, community, and religion.
The terms ethics and morality are closely related. We now often refer to ethical judgments or ethical principles where it once would have been more common to speak of moral judgments or moral principles. Academically, however, the term refers not to morality itself but to the field of study, or branch of inquiry, that has morality as its subject matter. In this sense, ethics is equivalent to moral philosophy. .
I will examine the case from the point of view of the corporate entity.
The corporation or company will often be under the specific "spotlight" per say, although all agents of the organization will deal with such situations as in the Paul Cronan Case. This would especially be the case when dealing with an individual discrimination issue or ethical situation. Larger areas such as environment ethics most often would point the finger or involve the company as entity from the beginning of the issue. Then the company itself may find revelation within its ranks.
1) The key ethical issues in this case would be privacy of the employee and medical records, discrimination, and occupational safety or the safety of others.
2) There was no continuity between policy and accountability for employee absence when addressing the medical records events that where recorded. Paul Cronan's supervisor allotted two appointments in the spring for medical appointments. Afterwards or the next time the medical condition needed to be disclosed first before getting an appointment. Paul's supervisor stated that he would need to accountability for his absence, and needed the information.