Chapter Three

LEGAL ASPECTS AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN

EMPLOYEES’ RIGHTS AND DUTIES
Chapter contents

3.1 Ethical Issues in the Rights of Employees

3.2 Equal employment Opportunities &

Affirmative Action

3.3 Whistle Blowing and Loyalty

3.4 Employee Participation in Management

3.5 The Right to Employment and
Employment at Will
Activity Questions
What do you think are the
common and critical Ethical
Issues Organizations need to
take account to address the
Rights of Employees?
Discuss for 5 minutes and
report to the class.
 3.1 Ethical Issues in the Rights of Employees

Organizations need to take account of the dignity

and rights of employees when taking employment
decisions.

These include having:

• clear, fair terms and conditions of employment,
• healthy and safe working conditions,
• fair remuneration, promoting equal opportunities and
employment diversity,
• encouraging employees to develop their skills, and
• not discriminating or harassing employees.
Ethical issues pose fundamental questions about fairness, justice,
truthfulness, and social responsibility.

Just complying with a wider range of requirements, laws, and

regulations cannot cover every ethical situation that executives,
managers, HR professionals, and employees will face.

Having all the elements of an ethics program may not prevent

individual managers or executives from engaging in or failing to
report unethical behavior.

HR staff members may be reluctant to report ethics concerns,

primarily because of fears that doing so may affect their current and
future employment.
Business Ethics and Management Consequences
Examples of HR-Related Ethical Misconduct Activities
 3.2 Equal employment Opportunities and
Affirmative Action

Equal Employment Opportunities

• Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) is the idea

that everyone should be treated fairly when they
are considered for various employment decisions
(including hiring, promotion, compensation,
termination, etc.).

• For example, anyone competing for a position at a

company should have the same chances of
succeeding if they are right for the job.
• In the legal sense of the EEO definition, equal
opportunity means that employees cannot use
certain characteristics as reasons to hire or reject
candidates or make others employment decisions;
they cannot discriminate against those
characteristics.
• In many countries, protected characteristics
include:
• Race/color
• National origin/ethnicity
• Religion
• Age
• Gender
• Physical or mental disability
• EEO doesn’t guarantee that people of
underrepresented groups will get hired.
• The purpose of EEO regulations is to make sure
nobody will face rejection or difficulties because
they are in a protected group.
 Affirmative Action
• Affirmative action is a special case when considering
specific protected characteristics.
• Affirmative action is the conscious, proactive pursuit of
gender balance and diversity in an organization by
supporting protected groups who are traditionally
discriminated against.
• The idea of the affirmative action policy is for employers
and educational institutions to take affirmative action
and cease any sort of racial, religion-based, or gender-
based discrimination in relation to making admission and
employment decisions.
• However, the policy comes into a controversial spotlight
when disadvantaged groups are given preferential
treatment.
 Affirmative Action - Advantages
1. Climbing the socioeconomic ladder

• An individual’s or family’s socioeconomic status is

typically divided into three levels: high, middle, and
low, and is determined by their income, education,
and occupational status.

• By giving minorities and disadvantaged groups an

equal opportunity to attain education and
employment, the policy increases their chances of
climbing up the socioeconomic ladder.
 2. Boosting the education of disadvantaged
students

• Disadvantaged families often fall into development

and poverty traps if they do not have access to
higher education and/or if they cannot afford it.

• By providing grants and scholarships that are meant

for students from disadvantaged groups affirmative
action boosts the education of the students – which
has potentially positive future outcomes related to
income, health, and socioeconomic status.
 3. Promoting education and work on a communal
level

• Affirmative action promotes education in society by

encouraging women and other oppressed groups to
attend university and offering them equal
opportunities and pay, regardless of gender or race.

• It results in the overall growth and development of

human capital in the economy, along with
potentially higher standard of living and per capita
income.
 Affirmative Action - Disadvantages
1. Reverse discrimination

• It is the notion that instead of promoting anti-

discrimination, affirmative action leads to
discrimination against individuals and groups that
come from non-disadvantaged backgrounds.

• Talented individuals may not be given equal

opportunities simply because they are not part of a
minority group.

• It may also result in hatred between majority and

minority groups.
 2. Lack of meritocracy

• Meritocracy aims to push more capable individuals

to places of higher education so that they may have
the resources and knowledge required to make
important changes in the world.

• By encouraging universities to admit more students

of gender, affirmative action may be discouraging
meritocracy in educational institutions.
 3. Demeaning true achievement

• Achievements by individuals from minority groups

and other disadvantaged groups may be considered
a result of affirmative action rather than their own
hard work, which can be demeaning to their true
level of effort and confidence in their abilities.
 3.3 Whistle Blowing and Loyalty
• Individuals who report real or perceived wrongs
committed by their employers are called whistle
blowers.
• Whistle blowing is the term used when a worker
passes on information concerning wrongdoing
witnessed at work.
• Wrongdoings can fall into one or more of the
following categories:
• Criminal offences (e.g. fraud)
• Failure to comply with an obligation set out in law
• Failure of justice
• Endangering of someone’s health and safety
• Damage to the environment
• Cover up wrongdoing in the above categories
• The reasons why people report actions that they
question vary and often are individual in nature.
• Several government workers fill complaints because
of actions by their bosses, which then have led to
retaliations.
• However, whistle blowers are less likely to lose their
jobs in public employment than in private
employment because most civil service systems
follow rules protecting whistle blowers.
• The culture of the organization often affects the
degree to which employees report inappropriate or
illegal actions internally or resort to using outside
contacts.
• Employers need to address two key questions
regarding whistle blowing:
1. When do employees have the right to speak out
with protection from revenge?
2. When do employees violate the confidentiality of
their jobs by speaking out?
• Even though the answers may be difficult to
determine, retaliation against whistle blowers is
clearly not allowed.
• Whistle blowing can appear to show a lack of
loyalty on the part of an employee, although that
may not be a correct interpretation.
 Employer’s Responsibility regarding Whistle
Blowing
• As an employer, it is good practice to create an
open, transparent and safe working environment
where workers feel able to speak up.
• Employer’s readiness in this regards can be
demonstrated by the following:
• Recognizing workers are valuable ears and eyes
• Getting the right culture
• Training and support
• Being able to respond
• Better control
• Resolve the wrongdoing quickly
 3.4 Employee Participation in Management

• Employee participation in management refers to

the participation of non-managerial employees in
the decision making processes of the organization.
• The participation of the employees in the
functioning of the organization gives employees
mental and psychological satisfaction.
• They feel pleasurable and contented that their tasks
are not just limited to the performance of their job
duties, but they are participating in the activities
and matters of the organization as well.
• The participation of the employees in the
management is regarded as the most accepted
principle of industrial relations in modern industry.
• Participation is referred to the mental and the
emotional involvement of the individuals in a group
situation.
• The individuals get motivated to contribute towards
the achievement of group goals and objectives and
share responsibilities and work duties.
• They need to ensure that they participate efficiently
and it may prove to be advantageous to the
organization
• Employee participation is referred to as the system,
where the employees obtain the rights to
participate in the decision making processes
regarding the issues, which are of concern to the
employees.
• These include, salaries and reimbursements,
working environmental conditions, health and
safety, well-being, job concerns, job responsibilities
and rights and opportunities.
• Employee participation is a matter of providing
opportunities to all the members of the
organization to contribute effectively towards
promoting welfare and goodwill.
• Better participation and greater responsibility in the
decision making processes on the part of the
employees will lead to development of loyalty, trust
and confidence, and a sense of responsibility
towards supervisors, managers and organization in
general.
• When the employees are participating in the
decision making processes, they have to be moral,
ethical and principled.
 Objectives of Employee Participation
1. To prevent the employees from being exploited
by the superiors within the organization.
2. To have democracy in the organization.
3. To lead to effective growth and development of
the workforce.
4. To resolve dissimilarities between management
and the workforce.
5. To develop a sense of participation among
workforce within the organization.
6. To encourage the employees to express their
ideas and suggestions.
7. To make improvements in the overall working
environmental conditions.
8. To promote better understanding among
management and workforce in terms of various
issues of the organization.
9. To generate awareness among the employees
that they have an important role to play in the
functioning of the organization.
10. To make provision of opportunities among the
employees for self-expression leading to
industrial peace, good relations and increased co-
operation.
 Levels of Participation
• Information participation level (giving and receiving
information)
• Associative participation level (the right to receive
information, discuss and give suggestions on the
general and economic conditions of the organization)
• Consultative Participation Level (employees are
consulted on the matters of employee welfare, such
as, work, safety, health and training)
• Administrative Participation Level (sharing of
authority and responsibility of management
functions).
• Decisive Participation Level (employees are to
participate in the decision-making processes)
The Right to Employment and Employment at will
The Right to Employment

• According to Universal Declaration of Human

Rights, United Nations General Assembly,
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of
employment, to just and favorable conditions of
work and to protection against unemployment.
• African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights,
Africa Unity,
Every individual shall have the right to work under
equitable and satisfactory conditions and shall
receive equal pay for equal work.
 Employment At Will
• “At-Will” employment is an employer’s ability to
dismiss an employee for any reason, and without
warning, if the reason is not illegal.
• When an employee is acknowledged as being hired
“at will”, courts deny the employee any claim for
loss resulting from the dismissal.
• The two primary benefits are the possibility of
career advancement and freedom and flexibility to
leave a position without reason or notice.
• No matter how it is looked at, at-will employment is
bad for employees and can jeopardize the
reputation of a company.
Chapter End