Transcript Chapter 18 - The University of Texas at Arlington

Employee Stakeholders:
Privacy, Safety, and Health
Chapter
18
Prepared by Deborah Baker
Texas Christian University
Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, 7e • Carroll & Buchholtz
Copyright ©2009 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved
1
Chapter 18 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 in the workplace,
with particular reference to violence, smoke-free and
family-friendly workplaces, and AIDS.
2
Chapter 18 Outline






Right to Privacy in the Workplace
Workplace Safety
The Right to Health in the Workplace
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions
3
Introduction to Chapter 18
The chapter focuses on the employee’s rights to:
 Privacy
 Safety
 Healthy work environment
4
Right to Privacy
Definitions
 Right to keep personal affairs to oneself
 Right to know how personal information is being used
 Privacy includes:
• Right to be left alone
• Right to autonomy
• The claim to determine when, how, and to what extent
personal information is communicated to others
5
Right to Privacy
Wired Magazine’s Best and Worst Firms
for Privacy at Work
The Best
The Worst










IBM
HP
Ford
Baxter Healthcare
Sears
Figure 18-1
Eli Lilly
Wal-Mart
New York Times Co.
BNSF
Hilton Hotels
6
Workplace Privacy Issues
1. Collection and use of employee information in
personnel files
2. Integrity testing
3. Drug testing
4. Monitoring employee’s work, behavior,
conversations, and location by electronic means
7
Collection and Use of
Employee Information






Privacy Act of 1974
USA Patriot Act
Background checks
Department of Health and Human Services
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Fair Credit Reporting Act
8
Use of the Polygraph
 History
• Bedouins of Arabia
• Ancient Chinese
• Machine development by Larson in 1929
9
Use of the Polygraph
Employee Polygraph Protection Act
 Exceptions include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Security services
Nuclear facilities
Radioactive or toxic waste
Public water supply facilities
Public transportation
Precious commodities
Proprietary information
Controlled substances
Government employees
10
Integrity Testing
Stem employee theft
Reasons for Use
Screen employees and applicants
Replace polygraphs
11
Arguments for Drug Testing
 High cost of drug abuse
•
•
•
•
Increased rate of accidents and injuries
Increased rate of theft
Increased propensity to make poor decisions
Ruined lives
 Ethical responsibility to employees and public to
provide:
• Safe workplaces
• Secure asset protection
• Safe places to transact business
12
Arguments Against Drug Testing
 Violates due process rights
 Invades privacy rights
 Grants greater weight to employer’s fights than
to employee rights
 Ignores employee’s actual performance
13
Guidelines for Drug Testing
1. Written company policy and procedure concerning
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
substance abuse
Requirements for drug testing program are documented
Employees get advance notice and right to refuse screening
Employee awareness if safety and security needs justify testing
Tests done uniformly and impartial
Specimen handling meets legal, technical, and ethical
requirements
Qualified review of positive results prior to employer notification
Notification of employee or applicant prior to employer report
Report to employer contains only the information needed for work
placement purposes or as required for government regulations
14
Drug Testing
State and Federal Legislation
 State laws
• Restrict drug testing to reasonable cause and suspicion
 Federal laws
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Regulations for drug testing in certain organizations
15
Employee Assistance Programs
Affirmations of EAPs
1. Employees are valuable members of the
organization
2. It is better to help troubled employees than to
discipline or discharge them
3. Recovered employees are better employees
@
http://www.eap-association.org
16
Monitoring

Employee monitoring occurs at majority of mid- to
large-sized firms
• video cameras
• recording phone calls
• Internet connections
• e-mail
• GPS
• camera phones
@
http://www.privacy.org
17
Right to Privacy
Effects of Employee Monitoring





Invasion of privacy
Treats employees unfairly
Creates stress and tension
Produces low morale
Creates a sense of job insecurity
18
Right to Privacy
Policy Guidelines on the Issue 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
19
Workplace Safety
OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard
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.
@
http://www.osha.gov
20
Workplace Safety
History of OSHA
 Nitpicking rules
 Spotty record
 Rejuvenated OSHA
21
Workplace Violence
Workplace Violence Statistics







Each workday…
16,400 threats
723 workers are attacked
43,800 workers are harassed
1,000 homicides at work yearly
2 million assaults and threats of violence
One in four full-time workers has been affected
Perpetrators are primarily current employees (43.6%)
and former employees (22.5%)
22
Workplace Violence
Who Is Affected?
Workers 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
23
Workplace Safety
OSHA’s Recommendations for
Preventing Workplace Violence
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Provide safety education
Secure the workplace
Provide drop safes
Equip field staff with cell phones and alarms
Instruct employees not to enter unsafe locations
Develop policies and procedures covering visits for
home health-care providers
Figure 18-4
24
The Right to Health in the Workplace
Two Major Issues
Smoking
HIV / AIDS
25
Right to Health in the Workplace
Components of HIV / AIDS Comprehensive Programs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Workplace policy
Training for managers, supervisors, union leaders
Employee education
Family education
Community involvement
26
Family-Friendly Workplace
Family-Friendly Benefits
1. Dependent care flexible spending accounts
2. Flextime
3. Family leave above time required Family and
4.
5.
Medical leave Act
Domestic partner benefits
Adoption assistance
27
Family-Friendly Workplace
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
28
Family-Friendly Workplace
FMLA Employer Rights
 Companies with fewer than 50 workers are exempt
 Right to demand that employees obtain medical
opinions or certifications; may require additional
opinions
 Do not have to pay employees, but must continue
health benefits
 If employee and spouse are at the same firm, the total
leave for both may be limited to 12 weeks
29
Key Terms












Privacy in the workplace
Privacy Act of 1974
Polygraph
Employee Polygraph Protection
Act
Integrity tests
Type 1 error
Type 2 error
Drug testing
Americans with Disabilities Act
Employee Assistance Programs
Broad brush EAP
Employee monitoring
 USA Patriot Act
 Background checks
 Electronic Communication








Privacy Act
Chief privacy officers
Right-to-know laws
Workplace violence
Smoking in the workplace
Acquired immune deficiency
syndrome
Work / life balance
Family-friendly
Family and Medical Leave Act
30