Privacy Invasion

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how the nature of the workplace is progressing, with new and increasingly controversial ways in which employers can possibly impinge upon an employee's physical privacy. The paper illustrates how the legal and ethical ramifications of these tools remain complex and multi-faceted. The paper explores the major ways in which employers might possibly violate the privacy rights of any one of their employees through physical means; drug testing, genetic testing and electronic surveillance. The paper bemoans that legal precedents regarding these issues have made relatively little progress towards reaching a widespread consensus on how to handle such cases.

From the Paper:

"Possibly the most interesting and contentious of the ways in which employers might infringe upon personal privacy is through genetic testing. The way in which the genetic information obtained might be used, however, often varies: "Genetic testing includes both genetic screening and genetic monitoring. In genetic screening workers are tested for genetic predispositions for example to chemically caused disease. In genetic monitoring, workers are tested for genetic damage caused e.g. by exposure to chemicals in the workplace," (Persson 2). The main concern of the business in relation to employee predisposition or incurred damage is not, primarily, the employee's health; instead, genetic testing reflects a concern for legal liability on the part of certain companies that expose employees to potentially hazardous environments."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anonymous. "Improvements in Workplace Safety United States." Morbidity and Morality Weekly Report, vol. 48, iss. 22, 1999.
• Duke, L. "Genetic Testing in the Workplace: the Employer's Coin Toss." Health and Biotechnology, September 5, 2002.
• Gilbert, Jacqueline A. et al. "Diversity Management: A New Organizational Paradigm." Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 21, iss. 1, 1999.
• Persson, Anders J. and Sven Ove Hansson. "Privacy at Work Ethical Criteria." Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 42, iss. 1, 2003.

More papers on Privacy Invasion:

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• Research Paper # 61117 : "Post 9-11 Security and Privacy in IT"
• Persuasive Essay # 140903 : "Is Privacy Obsolete"

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