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The first condition of libertarianism is thus fulfilled. Now we come to the second part. If an employer chooses to have his employees tested, he should have made it absolutely clear when hiring them that they would be tested. It was then up to them to decide whether they wanted to work for his firm or not. If the employer decided to have a new policy of drug testing implemented in the company, then he must give his employees at least a period of six months to decide whether they wanted to continue working or not. In case they were on drugs before, this six-month period will give them a chance to give up the habit and become cleaner. Thus no one's liberty and rights would be hurt and everyone would get a fair deal. (Shaw, 2007)
John Rawls came up with a rather interesting theory of ethics and justice. According to this theory, an action can only be deemed just if it was decided behind the veil of ignorance. If a person puts himself in the original position where he is not aware of his place in the world but has all the necessary knowledge then he can make the most just and correct decision. In the case of drug testing, the employee would need to put himself behind a veil of ignorance and decide if this is a good and just practice. In such a situation, the employee would know why drug testing is important, he knows the privacy concerns of people but he is unaware of his own place in the situation. He...
The employee would then decide if drug testing is right or not. The same theory can be applied to employers who can then decide if they should proceed with drug testing policy or not.
Egoism is probably the simplest and yet the least effective of ethical theory. It says that an action is right if it makes you happy. If doing something feels right to you or makes you happy then the action should be considered right. When applied to drug testing, this theory has obvious errors. All employers would think drug testing is good because it keeps their workplace clean and help them spot people involved in undesirable activities. Similarly most employees would not want it because a) they may have something to hide and b) even if they have nothing to hide, drug testing may seem too invasive.
Drug testing is a controversial subject. It can however be resolved if we look at the benefits of testing in some specific professions. Courts in California for example would decide drug testing cases by weighing employee rights against nature of job and then rule in favor of compelling interest. This is a correct approach and can be employed nationwide.
Reference:
Shaw, W.H. & Barry, V. (2007). Moral issues in business. (10th ed.). USA: Thomson Wadsworth
Reference:
Shaw, W.H. & Barry, V. (2007). Moral issues in business. (10th ed.). USA: Thomson Wadsworth
Men and women are valued for their role as workers -- workers not merely at a given company -- but workers who form part of a larger industrial/technological organism that is the national, and increasingly, the global economy. Rights of privacy give way to rights of public utility: People want, not only profits, efficiency, and productivity, but also security. In order to feel safer, we willingly surrender some of our
Drug abuse of both legal and illegal substances has a devastatingly negative impact on American society as a whole. Definition of Drug Abuse Legal Drugs Illegal Drugs Prevalence of Drug Use Impact of Drug Use Financial Costs Impact in the Workplace Costs of Incarceration Health-Related Issues Homelessness Lost Potential Family Life Pregnancy and Health of Children Death Alcohol and Traffic-Related Injuries Initiatives to Combat Drug Use Legalization and Decriminalization Prevention Drug abuse of both legal and illegal substances has a devastatingly negative impact on American society as a whole.
In most cases, recreational drug use is seen as a victimless crime and a harmless activity. This attitude changes in the workplace if the drug use impairs performance to the detriment of other workers or if the work involves public safety, in which case tolerance for drug use drops significantly. Another reason why tolerance for some drug use is so high is because the attitude is a reaction to the
Workplace Privacy Issue: For a long period of time, the right to privacy, including workplace privacy has been a major controversial issue. In the recent past, workplace privacy issues have become major focal point of debates regarding the rights of employers and employees because of the impact of technological advancements, legislative scrutiny, and rising costs of healthcare. Generally, workplace privacy issues are divided into two major categories i.e. on-the-job and off-the-job
This even happened in Athens in 1993 when its municipal government imposed conditions of a cholesterol check. They sought to accept only those employees having acceptable level of cholesterol. Employers later had to abandon this policy due to public hue and cry but it shows how far employers can go in imposing medical conditions on employees. Drug testing is a common practice in a number of organizations as its harmful
Workplace surveillance typically involves any of a number of different methods of monitoring or tracking employees, including email monitoring, location tracking, biometrics and covert surveillance (Ball, 2010). Organizations arguing in favor of workplace surveillance typically do so for the purpose of safeguarding assets, but this surveillance has consequences for both employees and employers. Certainly, employee perceptions of their employer will be affected by the degree of and types of surveillance.