Ethical dilemma and ethical lapse

I need an explanation for this Business question to help me study.

Ethical lapses are often confused with ethical dilemmas! In application, these are two very different things. An ethical lapse is a failure to behave in an ethical way in some specific situation, while an ethical dilemma is a situation in which no good ethical choice or decision is possible. Consider the two following global management situations:

Philip Thomas, a British manager makes a visit to a subsidiary in Nambodia, a developing nation, and finds that a local manager has hired a 10-year-old boy as a factory worker. This violates the company’s corporate policy regarding child labor. Thomas instructs the Nambodian manager to remove the child from the factory, but the local manager tells Thomas that the child is orphaned, has no income or family and would likely end up homeless without the factory job. What should Thomas do?
On the same subsidiary visit, British executive Philip Thomas finds that his manufacturing plant in Nambodia, a developing nation, is discharging chemicals into the local river in excess of what U.S. laws would permit. It is likely that such levels of toxic waste pose a potential health hazard but the capital investment required to correct the problem will result in the plant not achieving its profitability requirements for the next two years.
After considering these two different scenarios, discuss the following:

Which is a genuine ethical dilemma and which is an ethical lapse, and why?
It is frequently stated that “ethics rises above the law.” Explain this reasoning as it would apply to one of these scenarios.
Just response each posted # 1 to 3 only down below.

Posted 1

Hello Class, this week we are to discuss which situation is an ethical lapse, ethical dilemma and explain the “ethics above law” reasoning as it relates to one of the situations. In the first situation I would say that there is an ethical dilemma. If the boy does not keep the job he will be homeless and have no income which is not a good choice. If the boy keeps the job he can have income but it still is not a good ethical choice as it is child labor. There is not a good ethical choice in this situation. The second situation is an ethical lapse. The decision to pollute the environment is obviously unethical. There is another ethical answer although not profitable the capital project to fix the problem would be the ethical approach.

The second situation would relate to the ethics above the law reasoning. The discharging of chemicals may be within limits of the law in Nambodia but ethically the company should not knowingly pollute the environment with toxic chemicals.