Verified Document

Employee Privacy Avoid Liability Invasion Privacy Essay Essay

Employee Privacy Avoid liability invasion privacy Essay Question: List discuss ways employers avoid liability invasion privacy. Essay 350 words length APA format. There -text citation essay.

List and discuss different ways employers can avoid liability for invasion of privacy

Employers often justify intrusions into employee privacy based upon safety concerns: concerns about jeopardizing the health of the public can be used to allow drug and alcohol tests. Even lifestyle habits may be restricted, based upon the additional healthcare costs they can incur employers. Weight restrictions may be allowed if maintaining a certain weight is a safety hazard at some jobs, which is why "49 states allow weight standards that do not violate the ADA" (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman 2009: 682). Dating employees or the employees of a competitor business and moonlighting at another organization (which could reveal trade secrets or result in employees working too many hours to be productive) may be prohibited as well (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman 2009: 682).

Of course, many of these privacy-related restrictions are extremely controversial and are not without limits. Federal law dictates that employers can raise (or lower) a health insurance premium by...

However, to avoid liability for this incursion into employee privacy for off-workplace habits in terms of eating and exercise (as well as more general wellness monitoring programs of weight within the workplace), the employer must offer "a reasonable alternative to those for whom it is unreasonably difficult to meet the standard," such as allowing an employee with high cholesterol to take a statin or someone who is overweight to attend wellness weight loss programs (Goldberg 2012). Finally, depending on the nature of the occupation, if the job does not offer healthcare benefits, this may further impede employers to intrude into such private issues. Regardless, there is always a concern about "function creep" regarding such intrusions (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman 2009: 683). For example, an employer might claim he or she has a right to bar employees over a certain weight because the nature of the work requires a certain level of physical fitness and their weight cannot be reasonably accommodated, but the real reason behind this claim might be that the employer does not want the 'image' of the company tarnished in the eyes of customers by the presence of an obese person in…

Sources used in this document:
References

Bennett-Alexander, D.D., & Hartman, L.P. (2009). Employment law for business (6th ed.).

New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Goldberg, C. (2012). Can my employer's wellness program really ask me to do that? Common

Health: WBUR. Retrieved from:
http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2012/09/wellness-program-legal-limits
http://nation.time.com/2013/07/26/too-big-to-cocktail-judge-upholds-weight-discrimination-in-the-workplace/
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace
Words: 1650 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

privacy in the workplace encourages contempt. Legitimate Limits Economic reasons for supervision. Reasons of inter-employee, and employee-customer safety. Reasons of performance. Definition of excessive supervision/invasion of privacy. Examples of excessive supervision/invasions of privacy. Legal consequences/ramifications. Effects of legal yet employee-perceived insufficient privacy. Effects on performance Effects on Morale Possible psychological/health effects Ultimate Employee Contempt results from: Illegal/unethical supervision and invasion of privacy. Legal yet excessive supervision/surveillance or what employees view as excessive invasion of privacy. Conclusion: Employees view invasion of privacy with contempt that

Information Protection Law and Privacy
Words: 4525 Length: 16 Document Type: Essay

protect the privacy of the individual via EU Directive for Protection of Personal Data The internet revolutionized the human life as we know it. It established a culture of liberty aided by not just ingenuousness but also standardized protocols. This was achieved by transmitting the essential products for business-related growth, adopting a model of governance with no formal existence of regulations along with free availability of abundant software packages. This

Ethics of Privacy Is a
Words: 2370 Length: 7 Document Type: Research Proposal

This information, stored on a computer and used to correlate with other data could be considered invaluable by many researchers, but the patients have a right to keep certain information private, and to suggest anything else would be an ethical violation of the patient's privacy. Because computer ethics is such a volatile issue, an entire branch of study has grown up around computer ethics, which proponents who believe the computer

Professional Ethics
Words: 5077 Length: 19 Document Type: Term Paper

Privacy in the Workplace "Employee Monitoring: Is there Privacy in the Workplace?" 2003. Consumers Action Network Professionally ethical standards dictate that employees should be committed to working and performing at a professional level while in the workplace. Most employees assume that they have a right to a reasonable expectation to privacy while in the workplace. The majority of employers however in today's society, do utilize some form of employee surveillance and monitoring.

American Meat Packing Corp., 362F.3d 418 7TH
Words: 3196 Length: 9 Document Type: Essay

American Meat Packing Corp., 362F.3d 418 (7th Cir. 2004). On November 15, 2001, 350 workers at the American Meat Packing Corporation (AMPC) showed up for work and were told they had been terminated. Because they were not notified 60 days prior to termination, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, U.S.C. § 2101-2109, the WARN Act, did not apply. The purpose of the 1989 WARN Act was to create a buffer

Organizational Policy That Infringes on the Personal
Words: 580 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

organizational policy that infringes on the personal liberty of employees. Be specific in terms of what liberties are infringed upon and how. Then explain the benefits of the policy to the organization in spite of the costs to employees in terms of their personal liberty. Organizational policies infringing upon liberty In today's competitive job market, workers are often desperate to do whatever is necessary to get hired. However, some employers are

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now