A QUESTION OF ETHICS
Hazen Paper Co manufactured coated, foil-laminated, and printed paper and paperboard for use in such products as cosmetic wrap, lottery tickets, and pressure-sensitive items. Walter Biggins, a chemist hired by Hazen in 1977, developed a water-based paper coating that was both environmentally safe and of superior quality. By the mid-1980s, the company's sales had increased dramatically as a result of its extensive use of Biggins Acrylic. Because of this, Big-gins thought he deserved a substantial raise in salary, and from 1984 to 1986, Biggins's persis-tent requests for a raise became a bone of contention between him and his employers. Biggins ran a business on the side cleaning up hazardous wastes for various companies. Hazen told Biggins that unless he signed a confidentiality agreement promising to restrict his outside ac-tivities during the time he was employed by Hazen and for a limited time afterward, he would be fired. Biggins said he would sign the agreement only if Hazen raised his salary to 100,000. Hazen refused to do so, fired Biggins, and hired a younger man to replace him. At the time of his discharge in 1986, Biggins was sixty-two years old, had worked for the company nearly ten years, and was just a few weeks away from being entitled to pension rights worth about 93,000. In view of these circumstances, evaluate and answer the following questions.
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