Profit or Safety......

So yesterday, I get to class and we are moving right along into the 2nd chapter when the teacher decides to give us our first case study and research paper. I can tell this is gonna be a long semester but I will make the best of it. Moving along, the case study involved a scenario that is played out all over the world, so it really caught my attention. I myself have been victim to this situation before but never looked at it from a CPA's point of view. Though we have only had two classes we are being drilled to look at every situation we encounter and decide the best outcome based from an ethical viewpoint. So here we go......You have a classic scenario where there are supposed to be two people closing a store at night and one decides to leave early. Then makes it a habit and leaves the other employee who happens to be female to close by herself and tend to customers by herself.  I don't have to tell you all of the things that could go wrong with only one person to close and handle customers at the same time. There are quite a few things that are at risk by not having adequate coverage at a store........We had to identify all of the potential things that could be at jeopardy in this scenario.....I wont bore you with the details, but since we CPA's are supposed to look at every business case ethically lets me give you all a case study and you tell me the ethical issues at play.......I want you guys opinion to see if we are thinking along the same lines.....

Today, February 1, 2011, we had record low temperatures in the Dallas metroplex and a lot of precipitation had accumulated overnight. When I awoke this morning the city was covered in a blanket of snow and ice. Texas is not prepared for situations like this as it does not snow here regularly. We have a designated hotline at my job to call in inclement weather to let us know if operations will be shut down or not.....Fortunately, I did not have to go to work today......but I know someone who did. They got a call from their supervisor this morning when they did not show up for work.......The supervisor stated that they could not afford to lose money by not opening today and that they had an obligation to their customers to fulfill. They also stated that If they had to be there they were gonna make sure everyone else did too......The roads here are undriveable at best and there were reported accidents everywhere in the city, some fatal, some not. There were people who had been stranded for hours and had run out of gas so the car quit and they had to sit in 20 degree weather with no heat........how difficult would it be for the employee to make it to work in these types of conditions??? You tell me what company values its customers business more than the safety of its employees?? Do you see the ethical dilemma???? Do I ask my employee to risk his life to help me generate profit?? Or am I looking at it the wrong way?? There were plenty of people who needed supplies in case this weather stuck and they'd be trapped inside for days.....Did the store owe it to the customers to be open to service them?? What decision should the manager have made???? Profit?? or Employee??