A restaurant was regarded as one of the finest in town. But things weren’t so fine behind the scenes. The restaurant was losing money, and the manager made some unsavory changes to cut costs. For example, the manager instructed the waitstaff to save uneaten food from customers’ plates so it could be served to other diners. This practice violated several provisions of the state health code.

One day, the manager learned that a health inspector would be visiting the restaurant. The manager told...