An Analysis of Employee Rights vs. Employer Rights
An Analysis of Employee Rights vs. Employer Rights
BSAD 319 – Professional Ethics
4/29/2012
When comparing the granted rights of employees versus employers, it does not truly seem that either party has the advantage. These factors can often vary depending on state laws and regulations, and it appears when consulting these laws, that there are many loopholes due to the gray areas that accompany behavioral legal situations. There are many occurrences of foul play, stereotyping and opinionated biases that seem to have caused and shaped these existing laws. Very much like the medical field now, it seems that many employers have taken tedious extra precautions in order to avoid legislation with what may be disgruntled past employees. Difficult subjects like at will employment, the right to drug test employees, and even things like the employers right to monitor an employee’s company e-mail have dominated the legal playing field in the workplace sector. Where the true righteousness lies, however, is often very relative.
One of the most popular topics in employee rights is the advent of at-will employment. This is an agreement style that is practiced in every U.S. state except for Montana, and is actually fairly particular to America. As stated by Glynn, Arnow-Richman and Sullivan, “Most countries throughout the world allow employers to dismiss employees only for cause. Some reasons given for our retention of the at-will presumption include respect for freedom of contract, employer deference, and the belief that both employers and employees favor an at-will employment relationship over job security.” (as cited in National Conference of State Legislatures, 2012). The at-will system is one of the many employee/employer rights that are believed to benefit both parties. The at-will law can be modified by a contractual agreement between the two parties, but generally a regular at-will agreement gives the employer the right to terminate any employee at any time for
BSAD 319 – Professional Ethics
4/29/2012
When comparing the granted rights of employees versus employers, it does not truly seem that either party has the advantage. These factors can often vary depending on state laws and regulations, and it appears when consulting these laws, that there are many loopholes due to the gray areas that accompany behavioral legal situations. There are many occurrences of foul play, stereotyping and opinionated biases that seem to have caused and shaped these existing laws. Very much like the medical field now, it seems that many employers have taken tedious extra precautions in order to avoid legislation with what may be disgruntled past employees. Difficult subjects like at will employment, the right to drug test employees, and even things like the employers right to monitor an employee’s company e-mail have dominated the legal playing field in the workplace sector. Where the true righteousness lies, however, is often very relative.
One of the most popular topics in employee rights is the advent of at-will employment. This is an agreement style that is practiced in every U.S. state except for Montana, and is actually fairly particular to America. As stated by Glynn, Arnow-Richman and Sullivan, “Most countries throughout the world allow employers to dismiss employees only for cause. Some reasons given for our retention of the at-will presumption include respect for freedom of contract, employer deference, and the belief that both employers and employees favor an at-will employment relationship over job security.” (as cited in National Conference of State Legislatures, 2012). The at-will system is one of the many employee/employer rights that are believed to benefit both parties. The at-will law can be modified by a contractual agreement between the two parties, but generally a regular at-will agreement gives the employer the right to terminate any employee at any time for
Cited: American Civil Liberties Union, Privacy in America: Workplace Drug Testing (1997). Retrieved from http://www.aclu.org/drug-law-reform_technology-and-liberty/privacy-america-workplace-drug-testing Duke L. & Tech. Rev. 0026, Monitoring Employee E-Mail: Efficient Workplaces Vs. Employee Privacy (2001). Retrieved from http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2001dltr0026.html Timothy P. Glynn, Rachel S. Arnow-Richman, and Charles A. Sullivan qtd by The National Conference of State Legislatures, Employment Law: Private Ordering and Its Limitations (New York: Aspen Publishers, 2007). Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/labor/at-will-employment-overview.aspx United States Department of Labor, Drug-Free Workplace Policy Builder: Section 7: Drug Testing (2012). Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/elaws/asp/drugfree/drugs/screen92.asp