What is the difference between an ethical dilemma and a legal issue?
Legal issues involve laws. Ethical issues involve doing the RIGHT thing and may not be bound be legal precedent. An example: Say I am a consultant who charges by the hour, not by the work product. A client hires me to do a research project; it takes 6 hours and I charge them $600. A week later a totally different client comes and asks me to do the exact same research project. No more research req’d, I’ve already done the work. Do I copy it and give it to them? How much do I charge them–$50 for copying? (Because I didn’t spend any time on their behalf). Is that fair to the FIRST client? In my example, there are no laws…….so I have an ethical dilemma of doing the right thing, not a legal one.
