Employees' Rights, Responsibilities, and Employers' Ethical Obligations, Lecture notes of Accounting

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Business Ethics Task 2: Employees’ Rights and Responsibilities and Employer’s Ethical Responsibilities Western Governors University A1. Employees’ Rights and Responsibilities

 The employee has the responsibility perform the duties of their job as it is defined by the employer. This is one of the most important responsibilities of every employee because if each person neglected their tasks the overall mission of the company would suffer.  Every employee has the right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions. The Occupational Health and Safety Act protects employees from any retaliation if they decide to refuse work. This act is especially significant because workers can refuse work for themselves as for their coworkers if they feel it will put them in danger.  Acts such as the Civil Rights Act has given employees the right to fair treatment. This is important for employees as well as the company’s reputation because it protects employees from discrimination as well as harassment. It is important for employees to feel safe and welcome at work. This also reflects well on a company as a desirable place to work. A2. Employers’ Ethical Responsibilities  Employers have what is known as ethical responsibilities to employees such as a safe environment to work in. This is not only an ethical responsibility but a legal responsibility outline in the Occupational Health and Safety Act.  Employers are also moral, ad legally, obligated to provide a fair and harassment free work environment. These obligations are outlined in acts such as Civil Rights Act. A3. Ethical Business Dilemma After being stationed at a new base an Airman’s husband is immediately deployed to an undisclosed location for a 6-month tour. When she reports to her new squadron her supervisor notices a chance to help her acclimate to the new area and way of life. The first few days the supervisor is extremely helpful and friendly, but as the days progress he becomes a little more

than friendly. He begins to make suggestive comments both on and off duty, making his airman extremely uncomfortable. This form of harassment is unacceptable whether it is happening in the office or outside of the office. Upon the report of the supervisor by the airmen, upper leadership reprimands him with documented paperwork in is file, a demotion within the squadron, and a relocation of offices. This supervisor saw a vulnerability in a coworker and exploited it as a chance to harass his troop. This type of behavior not only affects the mission but emotionally affects the airmen. Every airman is expected to treat every fellow airman with respect and fairness regardless of their position, which includes personal space and no unwanted advances. A4. Ethical Business Dilemma: Evaluation  The relativistic perspective is a theory that morality is relative to the norms of a person’s culture.  The utilitarian perspective is a theory that tries to achieve the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people while avoiding the greatest amount of harm.  If the employee in the above situation held a relativistic perspective, she would have assumed her supervisor had no ill intentions and that he may have been raised in a culture that she mistook as overly friendly.  If the employee had instead held an utilitarian perspective she would have assessed the outcome of not addressing the situation and realized that if this type of behavior continued more women would be at risk, violating the intent to achieve the greatest amount of good for the most amount of people. With this view she would have felt like the situation is bigger than getting a solution for just herself. A5. Ethical Decisions Employer and employee perspective

 In North Dakota there are often snowstorms, leaving employees trapped in their garages needing to plow their way out in order to report to work. Every squadron has their own BobCat with snow plowing attachments to clear parking lots and walkways. For many new arrivals snowstorms are inconvenient and unexpected. Many supervisors have taken snowplows intended for work use to aid their peers with getting out of their how. This is considered an unethical decision because these assets were intended for work use only. If the employee were to break the equipment the financial responsibility would be left on the individual squadron despite the fact that the damage was done during personal use. This situation is known as fraud, waste, and abuse of resources.  Another common ethical dilemma in the workplace is violating company internet policies. The internet is a wonderful place for research and communication when used properly. In many workplaces sites like Facebook and Instagram are meant for personal use, unless you are in the marketing or public affairs department. When employees violate the internet use policy, they are making the unethical decision to essentially steal time from the company. A6. Ethical Decisions: Explanation  When employees take it upon themselves to use company assets such as snowplows the most common excuse is that if they had to use the shovel at their home they wouldn’t be able to make it to work in a timely manner. This excuse is still unacceptable because simply waking up earlier to shovel the snow would allow ample amount of time to get to work without the misuse of equipment.  Internet misuse is a common issue in the workplace with many common excuses. When approached about the misuse of internet many employees point out that they have

finished their work for the day and needed something to occupy their time so they would not cause any distractions. This justification of internet misuse is distasteful as the work for the next day could be started or assisting a coworker could be assisted with their workload.