By Kwame Anthony Appiah (thanks to Tim Barrick)
Kwame Anthony Appiah has been The New York Times Magazine’s Ethicist columnist since 2015 and teaches philosophy at N.Y.U.
From The Ethicist
My 93-year-old father moved into assisted living this past January after my mother died. He requires round-the-clock personal care, which his income fortunately allows us to provide. My sister and I manage his caregivers through an agency that has been excellent. For the past four years, it has sent us good people who are paid fairly. We also give generous holiday bonuses, which are scaled to reflect how long each caregiver has worked for us, the longest being four years.
Recently, one caregiver, who joined the team late last year, texted to ask whether we would “sponsor” him for an advanced course that would help him further his career in health care. This caregiver has been excellent and is often available when others are sick or on vacation. The cost of the course is just under $3,000, and we could certainly afford it.
I wonder, however, about whether giving him money for the course would be fair to the other caregivers. I also suspect that making such a request violates agency policy, and we don’t want to alert the agency, because we fear he could be dismissed.
Our initial thought was to offer half the amount and ask him to consider it an early holiday bonus. My father does not have dementia, but Parkinson’s disease has left him quite apathetic and depressed, and he is not really in a position to weigh in. — Name Withheld (continued on Page 2)