I recently decided to change jobs; I had to go through a lot of interviews at various competing firms. In order to keep my job search secret from my current employer, I had to make (often false) excuses to leave work early / take long lunch breaks / take afternoons off work. Was it ethically wrong to do this?

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I don't see a serious ethical problem with taking a long lunch break, assuming you worked a little longer at the end of the day as needed. Nor is it wrong to take an afternoon off, assuming you properly advised your employer to give him/her a chance to book is as a half-day of vacation. So the only plausible candidate for wrongdoing here is the dishonesty of your excuses.Such dishonesty might be justifiable in three ways.

First, it might be that, in the context of your work environment, it is generally understood by employers and employees alike that such dishonesty is standard practice (much like assault is standard practice in a boxing match).

Second, it might be that the particular employer you lied to had forfeited any claim to your honesty. S/he might have done this by lying to you, for instance, or by acting wrongly toward other employees who had honestly reported that they were seeking new jobs.

Third, it might be that your dishonesty was necessary to achieve some greater good. For example, you urgently need a higher salary to provide adequately for your children. This higher salary can come either through a promotion from your current employer or through a new job. Telling your current employer that you are interviewing for other jobs would reduce your chances for promotion and thereby jeopardize your children's welfare (in the event that your job search fails).

If none of these justifications applies, then, I would think, it was indeed wrong of you to offer false excuses.

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