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Chapter 18
Employee
Stakeholders:
Privacy, Safety,
and Health
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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Right to Privacy, Safety, Health
• Right to privacy
•
The status of workers’ rights is ill-defined.
• Right to safety
•
Thousands injured on the job annually.
• Right to health
•
Thousands suffer from work-related health
problems.
 In today’s uncertain work environment,
employees are more hesitant to ask for their
rights to be respected.
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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Right to Privacy
Right to:
• Keep personal affairs to oneself
• Autonomy
• Determine when, how, and to what extent
private information is communicated to
others.
 Privacy in the workplace is in flux as new
technological options are introduced.
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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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.
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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Integrity Tests
Polygraph
• Lie Detector
• Highly controversial in business
Employee Polygraph Protection Act
(EPPA)
• Banned most private-sector use of the lie
detector
Integrity tests
• Also controversial, but viewed as a
substitute for polygraph tests
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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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
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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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
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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Arguments Against Drug
Testing
• Violates due process rights
• Invades privacy rights
• False positives from common foods and
medicines
• Ignores employee’s actual performance
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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Employee Assistance Programs
Employee Assistance Programs
(EAPs)
• Extend into a variety of employee problem
areas.
A proactive way of dealing with employee
problems
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.
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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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
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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Right-to-Know Laws
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.
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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Workplace Violence
• A major problem posing challenges to
management.
• Companies make few efforts to address
workplace violence.
Continued violence in the future because of:
 Greater tolerance for violence
 Easily available weapons
 Economic stress
 Difficult job market
 Insufficient support systems
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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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.
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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OSHA’s Recommendations for
Preventing Workplace Violence
1. Provide safety education.
2. Secure the workplace.
3. Provide drop safes.
4. Equip field staff with cell phones and
alarms.
5. Instruct employees not to enter unsafe
locations.
6. Develop policies and procedures covering
visits for home health-care providers.
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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Right to Health in the Workplace
Smoking in the workplace
• Growing anti-smoking sentiment in the
U.S. and globally
•
Passive smoke kills thousands in the U.S.
each year
• Benefits of smoke-free workplaces:
 Lower employee healthcare costs.
 Smoke-free workplaces help smokers to
quite.
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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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.
Family-friendly benefits
1. Dependent care flexible spending accounts
2. Flextime
3. Family leave above time required Family and
Medical leave Act
4. Domestic partner benefits
5. Adoption assistance
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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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
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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Family-Friendly Workplace (continued)
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.
© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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