Privacy, Theft, and Whistle-Blowing

CHAPTER 4 Privacy, Theft, and Whistle-Blowing

CHAPTER 5 Termination

1. What do you think are some of the factors in the modern workplace that contribute to a theft of time? How can those factors be managed? One of the major factors would be the use of the internet for personal use like Facebook, Twitter, or social network, or even their personal email accounts. Nowadays it's so natural to go to any of these social media or emails accounts because it is so part of our everyday lives. A way that can an employer could avoid this is by blocking any and all distraction for the employees or monitor what and where the employees is going while online. Other ways of theft of time is the use of mobile phones. Because businesses are able to monitor the use of the business phones, most employees rely on their mobile phones to make and receive personal calls, text, even access their social media pages, and email account. The only solutions is having a written policy against the use of mobile phones during work hours. Another factor are the smoke breaks that employees take during working hours. Even though the time set for these breaks are 15 minutes they tend to extend especially if there is more than two people or if they go out in groups. Another way to prevent this is by having a written policy against smoking that way employees understand that to do so they would have to wait until lunch break to be able to smoke. Additionally, the chit chat between employees is another major theft of time. Employees waste between 5-30 minutes just talking about things that are not related to work. Written policies are the best way to limit these interactions to scheduled breaks and lunch breaks. Also, within the policies it should state that written warning will be given out if the policies are not followed.

2. What does the word Whistleblower mean (legally speaking)? Give an example of whistleblowing. "The disclosure by a person, usually an employee in a government agency or private enterprise, to the public or to those in authority, of mismanagement, corruption, illegality, or some other wrongdoing."(legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Whistleblowing) The biggest case was the Enron case. The inflation of the company's stock price while their revenue was not matching their projected capital outcome caused the company's stock to fall drastically. Partnership was being created among the executive that only benefit them and their families. Even though there were many reports of these discrepancies to the officials the workers were either ignored or were let go. (BBC News, 2006)

3. "Retaliation" has become one of the most often cited reasons for employees filing charges with the EEOC against their employers. Please define "retaliation" in the legal, employment sense - and explain when it is illegal. What can an employee do when they feel they have been retaliated against and for what reasons does retaliation rise to the level of an EEOC lawsuit?

"Retaliation generally is the act of seeking revenge upon another. Various federal and state laws, which vary by state, protect certain persons who seek to assert their legal rights from retaliation. For example, there is protection for whistleblowers under federal acts and related statutes that shield employees from retaliation for reporting illegal acts of employers. An employer is prohibited from any type of retaliation, such as, discharging, demoting, suspending or harassing