Business and society ethics sustainability and stakeholder management 9e chapter 18

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Chapter 18

Employee
Stakeholders:
Privacy, Safety,
and Health
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Learning Outcomes
1. Articulate the concerns surrounding the employee’s
right to privacy in the workplace.
2. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of
polygraphs, integrity tests, and drug testing as
management instruments for decision making.
3. Discuss the right to safety and the right to know, and
summarize the role and responsibilities of OSHA.
4. Elaborate on the right to health and safety in the
workplace, with particular reference to violence in
the workplace, smoke-free workplaces, and familyfriendly workplaces.
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Chapter Outline
• Right to Privacy in the Workplace
• Workplace Safety
• The Right to Health in the Workplace
• Summary
• Key Terms

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Employee Stakeholders:
Privacy, Safety, and Health
• The global recession has shifted the balance
of power from employees to employers.
• Employees are more willing to accept
things they don’t like for fear of losing their
jobs.
• An employee’s right to privacy varies from
state to state
• An employee’s concerns about safety and
health on the job now includes workplace
violence.
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Right to Privacy in the
Workplace
• The right to privacy in the workplace varies
from state to state.
• Four major workplace privacy issues •
•
•
•

Collection and use of employee information
in personnel files
Integrity testing
Drug testing
Monitoring of employee work, behavior,
conversations, and location by electronic
means.
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Collection & Use of Employee
Information by Employers
•

Background checks of applicants and current
employees have become a source of concern
for privacy advocates. Only the state of
California limits their use significantly.

•

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) applies to
employer use of employee consumer reports,
including credit reports, criminal background
checks, and other information.

•

The EEOC monitors employer use of
background checks when discrimination occurs.
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Integrity Tests
• The Employee Polygraph Protection Act
(EPPA)of 1988 Banned most private-sector
use of the lie detector.
•

Lie detectors may still be used by employers
that provide security services, protection of
nuclear facilities, shipment of toxic waste, and
the like.

• Many companies use question and answer
integrity tests (honesty tests).
• Personality tests measure maturity,

extroversion, emotional stability, and the
like.
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Uses of Integrity Testing

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Drug Testing (1 of 2)
• Drug testing is an umbrella term including
drug and alcohol testing, and substance
abuse.
Arguments for drug testing – drug use causes •
•
•
•

accidents and injuries
theft
a propensity to make poor decisions
deaths, injuries, ruined lives

• Employers have an ethical responsibility to
employees and public to provide a safe

workplace, secure asset protection, and a
safe place to transact business.
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Drug Testing (2 of 2)
Arguments against drug testing –
•Violates due process rights
•Invades privacy rights
•False positives from common foods and
medicines
•Ignores employee’s actual performance

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Guidelines for Drug Testing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Written policies, applied impartially.
Clear reasons for drug testing should be documented.
Notify employees and applicants of drug testing, the right to
refuse, and the consequences of refusal.
If random testing, tell employees of the safety and security
needs that justify testing.
All testing should be done uniformly and impartially.
Collection, transportation and analysis of specimens should
meet legal, technical, and ethical requirements.
Qualified review of positive results prior to employer
notification.
Employee or applicant should be informed and given the
chance to explain before the employer is notified.
The report to employer should contain only the information
needed for work placement purposes or as required for
government regulations.
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Monitoring Employees on the Job
• Employee monitoring occurs at the
majority of mid- to large-sized firms.
Technology changed the pervasiveness and
nature of monitoring • Videotaping
• Recording phone calls and voice mail
• Reading computer files
• Monitoring emails and web access

• GPS
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Effects of Employee Monitoring • Invasion of privacy
• Unfair treatment
• Creates stress and tension
• Excessive pressure to be productive
• Produces low morale
• Creates a sense of job insecurity
• The Electronic Communication Privacy Act
of 1986 is the only privacy protection
available for electronic monitoring.
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Policy Guidelines
on the Issues of Privacy
1. Obtain informed consent before acquiring
information.
2. Disclose the nature of any surveillance.
3. Set controls to avoid unauthorized spread of
information.
4. Collect and use only job-relevant medical
and health data.
5. Require reasonable suspicion before doing

drug tests.
6. Respect and preserve the boundary between
work and ©home.
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Workplace Safety
• The primary U.S. law governing worker
safety is the Occupational Safety and
Health Act.
• Sets safety and health standards for
workplaces.
• Applies to all private employers that
engage in interstate commerce.

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The Workplace Safety Problem
Two events are forerunners of workplace
safety initiatives 1.The death by cyanide poisoning of an employee of
Film Recovery Systems.
2.The poisonous gas leak at the Union Carbide Plant
in Bhopal, India.

Right-to-know laws •Many states have passed laws imposing a duty on
employers to provide employees with information on

the hazards of workplace chemicals and to make sure
that workers understand what the information
means in practical terms.
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OSHA’s
Hazard Communication Standards
1. Update inventories of hazardous chemicals in the
workplace.
2. Assemble material safety data sheets.
3. Ensure that hazardous chemicals are properly
labeled.
4. Train workers on the use of hazardous chemicals.
5. Prepare and maintain a written description of the
hazard communication program.
6. Consider any problems with trade secrets from
the
disclosure requirements.
7. Review state
requirements
for hazard disclosure.
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Cengage Learning


Workplace Violence • One of the four leading causes of death in

the workplace.
• The leading cause of death for women.
• Despite this, nearly 70% of firms do not have
a program to address workplace violence.
•

Contributing factors:
•
•
•
•
•

Greater tolerance for violence
Easily available weapons
Economic stress
Difficult job market
Insufficient support systems
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Workplace Violence -Who is Affected?
Workers are most at risk who:
•exchange money with the public.
•deliver passengers, goods, or services.
•work alone or in small groups.
•work late at night or early morning.
•work in community settings with extensive

public contact.
•work in high-crime areas.
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Prevention
•

OSHA’s “general duty clause” mandates that
employers provide safe workplaces– is not
specific to violent acts.

Employers are held liable for an unsafe act
when 1. The employer neglected to keep the
workplace free from a hazard.
2. The hazard was one that is generally
recognized by the employer or the industry.
3. The hazard was already causing or likely to
cause serious harm.
4. Elimination or removal of the hazard was
feasible.
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Right to Health in the Workplace
• To control health care costs, firms have

taken drastic steps, including banning
smoking.

Smoking in the workplace • Growing anti-smoking sentiment in the U.S.
and globally
•

Passive smoke kills thousands in the U.S.
each year

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
classifies second-hand smoke s a known
carcinogen.
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The Family-Friendly Workplace
Work-Life balance -

•A state of equilibrium where the demands of
a person’s personal and professional life are
equal.
•A desirable state for most workers, but
difficult in recessionary economic times.

Popular Family-friendly benefits -

1.Dependent care flexible spending accounts
2.Bring a child to work in an emergency

3.On-site mother’s room
4.Child-care referral service
5.Domestic partner benefits
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Family and Medical Leave Act
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) •Designed to make life easier for employees
with family or health problems.

FMLA employee rights •12 weeks of unpaid leave in 12-month period
•Reinstatement in old or equivalent jobs
•Health benefits during leave periods
•Protection from retaliation
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Key Terms
• Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Background checks
• Broad brush EAP
• Chief privacy officer
(CPO)
• Consumer reports
• Drug testing

• Electronic
Communication
Privacy Act of 1986
(ECPA)

• Employee Assistance
Programs (EAPs)
• Employee monitoring
• Employee Polygraph
Protection Act (EPPA)
• Fair Credit Reporting
Act (FCRA)
• Family and Medical
Leave Act (FMLA)
• Family-friendly
• Integrity tests

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