The Ethical Restaurant

In the restaurant business, if the customer is the most important person, then the next most important would have to be the employees. I mean, without employees, there would be no actual business for customers to go to. Finding employees for a restaurant is a 24/7 job. Whether it's students in need of summer money or seniors just looking for a way to pass the time, there is always a demand for an entry-level restaurant position. Sometimes, there are employees that stick around for years and make very close ties with their managers; the business becomes a second family for them. But no matter how long a person has been employed at a restaurant for, there is always a possibility of a dishonesty in a company. Just this past December, Chipotle Mexican Grill had to fire a number of workers between their 50 Minnesota locations after an audit by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). Many of the documents that Chipotle provided the ICE were suspected to be illegitimate, and if the employees in question could not clarify or come up with new documents, they were let go. This puts the restaurant owners in a difficult position. They want to hire the best workers they can find, but they don't want to be discriminatory. The managers of these restaurants weren't doing anything wrong; they hired employees who needed these positions and because they needed to fill jobs. So what do they do when a situation like this arises again? A young woman who may not be a legal immigrant of this country, but has a family to provide for? Should the restaurant owner turn her away, or allow her to work as long as they don't get caught? Is this owner dishonest, or simply a helping hand? It's all about ethics, and what is ranked higher on each individual's list of what is right and what is wrong.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704754304576096343224264206.html?KEYWORDS=restaurants

--Alexandra Ladas