41 WHY DO FIRMS MONITOR TECHNOLOGY USAGE?
Employers need to manage their workplaces to place workers in appropriate positions.
To ensure compliance with affirmative action requirements.
To administer workplace benefits.
Monitoring allows the manager to ensure effective, productive performance by preventing the loss of productivity to inappropriate technology use.
Monitoring offers an employer a method by which to protect its others resources.
Employers use monitoring to protect proprietary information and to guard against theft, to protect their investment in equipment and bandwidth, and to protect against legal liability.
47 ETHICS OF DRUG TESTING
Where public safety is at risk, there is arguably a compelling public interest claim from a utilitarian perspective that may be sufficiently persuasive to outweigh any one individual’s right to privacy or right to control information about oneself.
However, what about jobs in which public safety is not at risk? Is it justifiable to test all employees and job applicants?
Is the proposed benefit to the employer sufficiently valuable in your perspective to outweigh the employee’s fundamental interest in autonomy and privacy?
48 ETHICS OF DRUG TESTING
Should a utilitarian viewpoint govern or should deontological principles take priority?
Should we consider a distributive justice perspective and the fairest result—does distributive justice apply under these circumstances?
49 OTHER FORMS OF MONITORING
Employers are limited in their collection of information through other various forms of testing, such as polygraphs or medical tests.
Employers are constrained by a business necessity and relatedness standard or, in the case of polygraphs, by a requirement of reasonable suspicion.
50 HEALTH INSURANCE PORTABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT (HIPAA)
With regard to medical information specifically, employer’s decisions are not only governed by the Americans With Disabilities Act but also restricted by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
HIPAA stipulates that employers cannot use “protected health information” in making employment decisions without prior consent.
Protected health information includes all medical records or other individually identifiable health information.