Ethics in Business

Ethics

Privacy is an employee right, just as any American has a right to rightfully defend their position on free speech or the right to bear arms. All employees are protected to a degree under the United States Constitution and the laws that each state holds for its citizens.

In any industry, business, workplace, etc.., drug testing policy is almost always a standard policy that entertains an employer’s right to know what its employees may be up to in their own free time. A violation of this would be if an employee smokes marijuana on a Saturday night and see another fellow employee or boss out and about that seems intoxicated or under the influence of some drug. Then a supposedly random drug test is administered on that following week to that person knowing full well that the people were responsible for the test. Is it justified or is it not? As this may get called into question, it is almost always intrusion of privacy into the rights along the lines. There really is no just cause, except for hearsay. This becomes kind of a prima facie decision to the person that spotted them. Unless this undoubted inhibits their performance in the job, or their contract in which they signed with the company, it is a slippery slope to go down. An employer would most likely end up showing how exactly it was random and must show probable cause on how they validated their decision.

Justified circumstances are commonality in the workplace, almost regardless of the nature of the work. Some easy procedural restrictions that would cover the employers from any disregard of the employee, they could give advanced notice of the drug tests for the entire company, excluding no one, but not enough of an advance notice that could help people get out of a positive drug test. There should be no exceptions to this, and all employees should be subject to test as soon as possible upon returning to work. Although drug tests are known to only