Student name:__________
TRUE/FALSE - Write 'T' if the statement is true and 'F' if the statement is false.
1) Privacy is important because it serves to define one's individuality.
⊚ true ⊚ false
2) A social contract restricts the right to privacy by preventing people from infringing on someone else's right to his or her personal autonomy.
⊚ true ⊚ false
3) Values that are fundamental across culture and theory are not hypernorms. ⊚ true ⊚ false
4) According to Donaldson and Dunfee, the right to personal freedom is an example of a hypernorm. ⊚ true
5) The value of privacy to civilized society is as great as the value of hypernorms to civilized existence. ⊚ true ⊚ false
6) The concept of property rights excludes personal information. ⊚ true
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⊚ false
⊚ false
7) The Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection against an unreasonable search and seizure governs only the private-sector workplace.
⊚ true ⊚ false
8) The "invasion of privacy" claim developed through case law called intrusion into seclusion.
⊚ true ⊚ false
9) The European Union's Directive on Personal Data Protection does not in any way prohibit EU firms from transferring personal information to a non-EU country.
⊚ true ⊚ false
10) Monitoring allows a manager to ensure effective, productive performance by preventing the loss of productivity to inappropriate technology use.
⊚ true ⊚ false
11) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) stipulates that employers can use "protected health information" in making employment decisions without prior consent.
⊚ true ⊚ false
12) According to the "Hawthorne Effect," merely knowing one is being studied might make one a better worker.
⊚ true ⊚ false
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13) Employers in all parts of the United States are prohibited from making employment decisions on the basis of weight, even if they are not in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
⊚ true
⊚ false
14) Discrimination laws do not necessarily protect workers against adverse action based on the identity of the person they married.
⊚ true
⊚ false
MULTIPLE CHOICE - Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
15) Two general and connected understandings of privacy have been identified: privacy as a right to be "left alone" within a personal zone of solitude, and privacy as the
A) right to understand one's emotions.
B) right to understand others' emotions.
C) right to control information about others.
D) right to control information about oneself.
16) ________ is an individual's right to be "let alone" within a personal zone of solitude and the right to control information about himself or herself.
A) Autonomy
B) Privacy
C) Morality
D) Psychological egoism
17) Identify a true statement about hypernorms.
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A) They are values that are determined within free moral space.
B) They are values that are fundamental across culture and theory.
C) They determine who maintains control over tangibles and intangibles.
D) They are limited to an individual's property rights.
18) Which of the following is at the core of many of the examples of hypernorms?
A) moral free space
B) public information
C) individual privacy
D) transparency
19) According to ethicists Thomas Donaldson and Thomas Dunfee, the right to ________ is an example of a hypernorm.
A) armed protest
B) public information
C) intelligence gathering
D) physical movement
20) In the context of the approach to ethical analysis developed by Donaldson and Dunfee, as long as a decision is not in conflict with a hypernorm, it rests within ________, and reasonable minds may differ as to what is ethical.
A) the exclusion zone
B) the zone of proximal development
C) moral free space
D) moral imagination
21) Identify a true statement about privacy.
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A) The right to privacy is not restricted by any social contract.
B) Privacy is not related to liberty and autonomy.
C) Privacy can be legally protected by the constitution.
D) The right to privacy is provided only for certain sections of society.
22) ________ refers to the body of law comprised of the decisions handed down by courts, rather than specified in any particular statutes or regulations.
A) Statutory law
B) Common law
C) Civil law
D) Constitutional law
23) The Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection against an unreasonable search and seizure governs only the public sector workplace because
A) unions exist only in public sector organizations.
B) the private sector does not cater to appeals of unreasonable search or seizure.
C) the Constitution applies only to state action.
D) only public sector organizations deal with classified information.
24) Which of the following prohibits the "interception" or unauthorized access of stored communications?
A) the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
B) the Computer Security Act of 1987
C) the Privacy Act of 1974
D) the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986
25) In the context of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, interception applies only
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A) to employees who work part time.
B) when monitoring is done without consent.
C) when employees resign from a company.
D) to messages in transit.
26) Which of the following statements about the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 is true?
A) Courts have ruled that the "interception" of stored communications applies only to messages that have actually reached company computers.
B) A firm that secures employee consent to monitoring at the time of hire is immune from ECPA liability.
C) The impact of the ECPA is to punish electronic monitoring only by employers.
D) The ECPA does not allow interception even when consent has been granted.
27) Identify a legal violation that occurs when someone intentionally interferes in the private affairs of another when the interference would be "highly offensive to a reasonable person."
A) battery
B) conflict of interest
C) intrusion into seclusion
D) defamation
28) If the basis for finding an invasion of privacy is often an employee's legitimate and reasonable expectation of privacy, then a situation where there is no real expectation of privacy occurs when the
A) employee has actual notice.
B) work involves handling huge amounts of money.
C) work requires complete transparency from the employee.
D) employee belongs to a minority group.
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29) Which of the following statements is true regarding the laws on employer monitoring?
A) Increasingly, states in the United States are enacting laws to limit employer monitoring powers.
B) All states in the United States require employers to notify workers when they are being monitored.
C) The U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited employers from monitoring their employees.
D) The U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited employers from reviewing employees' Internet use.
30) Which of the following is true about the European Union's Directive on Personal Data Protection?
A) It prohibits EU firms from transferring personal information to a non-EU country unless that country maintains "adequate protections" of its own.
B) It is also known as the European Union Safe Harbor Act.
C) It encourages member countries to maintain myriad standards for information gathering and protection.
D) It states that United States is the only non-member country that maintains "adequate protection" of personal data.
31) Which of the following is true of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?
A) It provides that personal information cannot be collected or shared by companies without individuals' permission.
B) It impacts electronic monitoring only by third parties and not by employers.
C) It provides worldwide service of search warrants for electronic evidence.
D) It denies the government from regulating small companies.
32) According to economist Antonio Argandona, which of the following elements would include issues relating to company secrets, espionage, and intelligence gathering?
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A) truthfulness and accuracy
B) respect for property and safety rights
C) respect for privacy
D) accountability
33) Fitbits and Nike+ FuelBands are examples of ________ that allow employers to gather employee information, such as the number of steps they take in a day, their heart rate, and even their hormone levels, and incorporate this information into employee wellness programs.
A) biotracking technology
B) surveillance technology
C) biofeedback mechanism
D) reverse charge mechanism
34) One of the attributes of technology and its usage is that it
A) prohibits access to any information that was once easily accessible.
B) ensures that the lines between people's personal lives and professional lives are not blurred.
C) keeps employees within the boundaries of their workplace even in the outside world.
D) reduces the privacy concerns of individuals.
35) When we do not get to know someone because we do not have to see that person in order to do our business, we often do not take into account the impact of our decisions on him or her. This is a challenge posed by the
A) facelessness that results from the use of new technology accessible in the workplace.
B) knowledge gap that exists between people who understand the technology and others who do not understand it.
C) lack of clear boundaries between people's personal and professional lives.
D) assumption by users of technology that the Internet is safe.
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36) Which of the following statements is true of monitoring?
A) Monitoring enables employers to legally access confidential medical information about their employees.
B) Monitoring tends to create a friendly workplace without any suspicions.
C) Monitoring allows workers to control their environment.
D) Monitoring ensures effective performance by preventing the loss of productivity to inappropriate technology use.
37) The desire to place workers in appropriate positions, to ensure compliance with affirmative action requirements, or to administer workplace benefits is sufficient reason for employers to undertake employee ________.
A) training
B) orientation
C) monitoring
D) drug testing
38) The utilitarian view holds that individual rights to privacy or right to control information about oneself may be outweighed in cases where
A) public safety is at risk.
B) an employee has prior notice on possible privacy invasion.
C) an employee has access to his or her employer's money.
D) employee productivity is low.
39) Which of the following statements is true of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008?
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A) It makes it legal to discriminate against applicants because of genetic information.
B) It limits the disclosure of genetic information.
C) It contains a tenuous confidentiality provision.
D) It became effective in December 2008.
40) Which of the following acts stipulates that employers cannot use "protected health information" in making employment decisions without prior consent?
A) the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
B) the Federal Information Security Management Act
C) the Personal Information and Health Documents Act
D) the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
41) Identify a true statement about the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) of 2008.
A) It mandates all employees to disclose their genetic information to their employers.
B) It does not include the family medical history of a person.
C) It prevents employers from monitoring their employees.
D) It prohibits discriminatory treatment in employment based on genetic information.
42) Identify a true statement about the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) of 2009.
A) It allows employers to collect genetic information from employees in order to monitor the biological effects of toxic substances in the workplace.
B) It excludes family medical history from one's genetic information.
C) It prevents employers from collecting genetic information in order to comply with the Family Medical Leave Act.
D) It prevents employers from releasing genetic information about an employee to a public health agency.
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43) Which of the following is a disadvantage of monitoring?
A) Monitoring tends to constrain effective performance since it can cause increased stress and pressure.
B) Monitoring prevents employers from managing their workplaces to place workers in appropriate positions.
C) Monitoring does not allow managers to ensure compliance with affirmative action requirements.
D) Monitoring cannot be utilized to prevent the loss of productivity due to inappropriate technology use.
44) Which of the following statements is true about monitoring?
A) It improves workers' right to control their work environment.
B) It has the potential to cause physical disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
C) It improves the level of worker autonomy and respect.
D) It can lead to mental pressures, but health problems have not been reported.
45) Which of the following parameters is likely to be included in an employee monitoring policy?
A) No advance notice is required for secret monitoring.
B) Employer is allowed to collect personal and job-related information.
C) No monitoring in private areas.
D) Monitoring should be extended to areas outside of the workplace.
46) Identify a true statement about the "Hawthorne Effect."
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A) It maintains that workers' productivity improves when they are singled out.
B) It holds that workers show poor performance when they know that they are being monitored.
C) It holds that managers should not monitor their employees in any situations.
D) It occurs only when the mechanisms used to monitor employees are unethical.
47) Employees will be on their best behavior during phone calls if they know that those calls are being monitored. This can be attributed to the
A) placebo effect.
B) observer-expectancy effect.
C) Hawthorne effect.
D) halo effect.
48) An employer can resolve the concerns related to the "Hawthorne Effect" through
A) notified, random monitoring.
B) consented, selective monitoring.
C) selective, notified monitoring.
D) random, anonymous monitoring.
49) Some companies have a(n) ________ policy under which an employer refuses to hire or terminates a worker on the basis of the spouse's working at the same firm.
A) antinepotism
B) conflict-of-interest
C) anti-fraternization
D) antitrust
50) Which of the following statements about the regulation of off-work acts in the United States is true?
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A) Many states ban discrimination on the basis of weight.
B) Laws that protect employees against discrimination based on marital status exist in just under half of the states.
C) Only a small minority of states protect employees against discrimination on the basis of political involvement.
D) Lifestyle discrimination tends to be lawful if the imposition of the rule treats one protected group differently than another.
51) Identify a policy under which an employer refuses to hire or terminates a worker whose spouse works at a competing firm.
A) anti-nepotism policy
B) antitrust policy
C) affirmative action policy
D) conflict-of-interest policy
52) Most statutes or common law decisions provide for employer defenses for all of the following EXCEPT those rules that
A) are reasonable and rationally related to the employment activities of a particular employee.
B) treat one group differently from another considering lifestyle practices.
C) are necessary to avoid a conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict of interest.
D) constitute a "bona fide occupational requirement."
53) Identify an act that expanded states' rights with regard to Internet surveillance technology, including workplace surveillance, and amended the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
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A) the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act
B) the USA Freedom Act
C) the Federal Information Security Management Act
D) the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
54) Which of the following acts grants access to sensitive data with only a court order rather than a judicial warrant and imposes or enhances civil and criminal penalties for knowingly or intentionally aiding terrorists?
A) the Federal Information Security Management Act
B) the USA Freedom Act
C) the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act
D) the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
55) Title II of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act provides roving surveillance authority under the
A) Federal Information Security Management Act to track website access of individuals.
B) Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to track individuals.
C) Electronic Communications Surveillance Act to track business transactions.
D) International Surveillance of Terrorists Act to track individuals in countries with diplomatic relations.
56) Which of the following is true about the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act?
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A) The act does not grant access to sensitive data with only a court order.
B) The act expands states' rights with regard to Internet surveillance technology.
C) The act excludes provisions designed to combat money laundering activity.
D) The act does not enhance civil and criminal penalties for intentionally aiding terrorists. FILL IN THE BLANK. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.
57) The legal and ethical sources of protection for privacy in personal data are called ________.
58) According to philosopher Patricia Werhane, for an individual to expect respect for her or his personal autonomy, that individual has a ________ to respect the autonomy of others.
59) Private ________ depend on the existence and enforcement of a set of rules that define who has a right to undertake which activities on their own initiative and how the returns from those activities will be allocated.
60) The impact of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) is to punish electronic monitoring only by ________ and not by employers.
61) The maintenance and either periodic or random review of email communications of employees or others for a variety of business purposes is called ________.
62) According to the ________, merely knowing one is being studied might make one a better worker.
63) Philosopher William Parent conceives the right to privacy as the right to ________.
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64) New York's ________ statute prohibits employment decisions or actions based on four categories of off-duty activity.
65) An impairment that substantially limits a major life activity is called a(n) ________.
66) In the context of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), ________ is the only U.S. state that has banned discrimination on the basis of weight.
ESSAY. Write your answer in the space provided or on a separate sheet of paper.
67) How do privacy issues at the workplace raise ethical issues involving individual rights as well as those involving utilitarian consequences?
68) Summarize how the definition of privacy gives rise to two streams of thought about rights.
69) Describe "reciprocal obligation" as an ethical source of the right to privacy.
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70) Explain the concept of hypernorms and moral free space.
71) Explain the ethical source of privacy using the perspective of property rights.
72) Explain how privacy can be legally protected. Summarize the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA). Discuss the "intrusion into seclusion" concept.
73) Explain the implications of giving "notice" about monitoring.
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74) Briefly discuss the circumstances which violate an employee's privacy rights.
75) Summarize what economist Antonio Argandona says about information and data in the age of technology, and the moral requirements associated with that information.
76) Briefly outline the challenges of technology discussed in the text.
77) Why do firms monitor technology usage?
78) Discuss the nuances associated with drug testing and outline the arguments for and against it.
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79) Describe the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Discuss the use of genetic information as a form of monitoring.
80) Outline the business reasons to limiting monitoring.
81) Discuss the facts pertaining to laws against discrimination based on marital status.
82) Briefly discuss the USA PATRIOT Act with regard to September 11, 2001.
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Answer Key
Test name: Test7
1) TRUE
Privacy is important because it serves to establish the boundary between individuals and thereby serves to define one's individuality.
2) TRUE
The right to privacy is restricted by a social contract in our culture that prevents us from infringing on someone else's right to her or his personal autonomy.
3) FALSE
Ethicists Thomas Donaldson and Thomas Dunfee have developed an approach to ethical analysis that seeks to differentiate between those values that are fundamental across culture and theory hypernorms and those values that are determined within moral free space and that are not hypernorms.
4) TRUE
Donaldson and Dunfee include as examples of hypernorms freedom of speech, the right to personal freedom, the right to physical movement, and informed consent.
5) TRUE
The value of privacy to civilized society is as great as the value of the various hypernorms to civilized existence.
6) FALSE
The concept of property rights involves a determination of who maintains control over tangibles and intangibles, including, therefore, personal information.
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7) FALSE
The Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection against an unreasonable search and seizure governs only the public sector workplace.
8) TRUE
The "invasion of privacy" claim developed through case law called intrusion into seclusion.
9) FALSE
The European Union's Directive on Personal Data Protection prohibits EU firms from transferring personal information to a non-EU country unless that country maintains "adequate protections" of its own; in other words, protections equivalent to those the directive guarantees in EU countries.
10) TRUE
Monitoring allows a manager to ensure effective, productive performance by preventing the loss of productivity to inappropriate technology use.
11) FALSE Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) stipulates that employers cannot use "protected health information" in making employment decisions without prior consent.
12) TRUE
One of the problems associated with giving prior notice of monitoring is the "Hawthorne Effect." Workers are found to be more productive based on the psychological stimulus of being singled out, which makes them feel more important. Merely knowing one is being studied might make one a better worker.
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13)
FALSE
Employers are not prohibited from making employment decisions on the basis of weight, as long as they are not in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when they do so.
14)
TRUE
Laws that protect against discrimination based on marital status exist in just under half of the states. However, though workers might be protected based on marital status, they are not necessarily protected against adverse action based on the identity of the person they married.
15) D
Two general and connected understandings of privacy can be found in the legal and philosophical literature on this topic: privacy as a right to be "left alone" within a personal zone of solitude, and privacy as the right to control information about oneself.
16) B
Privacy is an individual's right to be "let alone" within a personal zone of solitude and/or the right to control information about himself or herself.
17) B
Ethicists Thomas Donaldson and Thomas Dunfee have developed an approach to ethical analysis that seeks to differentiate between those values that are fundamental across culture and theory hypernorms and those values that are determined within moral free space and that are not hypernorms.
18) C
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Ethicists Thomas Donaldson and Thomas Dunfee include as examples of hypernorms freedom of speech, the right to personal freedom, the right to physical movement, and informed consent. Individual privacy is at the core of many of these basic minimal rights and is, in fact, a necessary prerequisite to many of them.
19) D
Donaldson and Dunfee include as examples of hypernorms freedom of speech, the right to personal freedom, the right to physical movement, and informed consent.
20) C
Moral free space is that environment where hypernorms or universal rules do not govern or apply to ethical decisions, but instead culture or other influences govern decisions, as long as they are not in conflict with hypernorms. In other words, as long as a decision is not in conflict with a hypernorm, it rests within moral free space, and reasonable minds may differ as to what is ethical.
21) C
Privacy can be legally protected in three ways: by the constitution (federal or state), by federal and/or state statutes, and by the common law.
22) B
Common law refers to the body of law comprised of the decisions handed down by courts, rather than specified in any particular statutes or regulations.
23) C
The Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection against an unreasonable search and seizure governs only the public sector workplace because the Constitution applies only to state action.
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24) A
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) prohibits the "interception" or unauthorized access of stored communications.
25) D
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 prohibits the interception or unauthorized access of stored communications. However, courts have ruled that interception applies only to messages in transit and not to messages that have actually reached company computers. Therefore, the impact of the ECPA is to punish electronic monitoring only by third parties and not by employers.
26) B
A firm that secures employee consent to monitoring at the time of hire is immune from ECPA liability.
27) C
The "invasion of privacy" claim with which most people are familiar is one that developed through case law called intrusion into seclusion. This legal violation occurs when someone intentionally intrudes on the private affairs of another when the intrusion would be "highly offensive to a reasonable person."
28) A
Since the basis for finding an invasion of privacy is often the employee's legitimate and reasonable expectation of privacy, if an employee has actual notice, then there truly is no real expectation of privacy.
29) A
Only two states in the United States, Connecticut and Delaware, require employers to notify workers when they are being monitored. Increasingly, however, states are enacting laws to limit employer monitoring powers.
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30) A
The European Union's Directive on Personal Data Protection prohibits EU firms from transferring personal information to a non-EU country unless that country maintains "adequate protections" of its own; in other words, protections equivalent to those the directive guarantees in EU countries.
31) A
The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides that personal information cannot be collected or shared by companies without individuals' permission. Information about who is using the data and for what purpose it is being collected must be provided in a clear, easily understandable manner.
32) C
According to economist Antonio Argandona, respect for privacy would include issues relating to company secrets, espionage, and intelligence gathering.
33) A
Employee monitoring has crossed the threshold from computer use to body autonomy. Biotracking technology, such as Fitbits or Nike+ FuelBands, allow employers to record the number of steps that employees take in a day, their heart rate, what they eat and drink, how much sleep they get, and even their hormone levels. The information gathered from this technology often is incorporated into employee wellness programs.
34) C
Because technology allows us to work from almost anywhere on this planet, we are seldom out of the boundaries of our workplace. Our total accessibility creates new expectations, and therefore conflicts.
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35) A
A challenge posed by the new technology accessible in the workplace is the facelessness that results from its use. When we do not get to know someone because we do not have to see that person in order to do our business, we often do not take into account the impact of our decisions on him or her.
36) D
Monitoring allows a manager to ensure effective, productive performance by preventing the loss of productivity to inappropriate technology use.
37) C
Monitoring allows employers to manage their workplaces to place workers in appropriate positions, to ensure compliance with affirmative action requirements, or to administer workplace benefits.
38) A
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.
39) B
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008 prohibits the use of genetic information in making employment decisions; it restricts employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, and other covered entities from requesting, requiring, or purchasing genetic information. It also limits the disclosure of genetic information.
40) D
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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (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.
41) D
The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) of 2008 became effective in November 2009 and prohibits discriminatory treatment in employment based on genetic information. GINA presents interesting questions because it defines genetic information in a more broad sense than one might imagine.
42) A
Under GINA, an employer can collect genetic information in order to comply with the Family Medical Leave Act or to monitor the biological effects of toxic substances in the workplace.
43) A
Monitoring may arguably constrain effective performance since it can cause increased stress and pressure, negatively impacting performance and having the potential to cause physical disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
44) B Monitoring may arguably constrain effective performance since it can cause increased stress and pressure, negatively impacting performance and having the potential to cause physical disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
45) C
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A monitoring program that includes parameters such as no monitoring in private areas, no secret monitoring, monitoring limited to within the workplace, and prohibition of discrimination by employers based on offwork activities allow the employer to effectively and ethically supervise the work employees do, to protect against misuse of resources, and to have an appropriate mechanism by which to evaluate each worker's performance, thus respecting the legitimate business interest of the employer.
46)
A
Workers are found to be more productive based on the psychological stimulus of being singled out, which makes them feel more important. In other words, merely knowing one is being studied might make one a better worker. This effect of employer monitoring is termed the "Hawthorne Effect."
47)
C
By telling the employees which calls are being monitored, they may be sure to be on their best behavior during those calls. This effect of employer monitoring is termed the "Hawthorne Effect": Workers are found to be more productive based on the psychological stimulus of being singled out, which makes them feel more important.
48)
D
Workers are found to be more productive based on the psychological stimulus of being singled out, which makes them feel more important. This effect of employer monitoring is termed the "Hawthorne Effect." Random, anonymous monitoring resolves these employers' concerns (but not those of the worker).
49)
A
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Though workers might be protected based on marital status, they are not necessarily protected against adverse action based on the identity of the person they married. For instance, some companies might have an antinepotism policy under which an employer refuses to hire or terminates a worker on the basis of the spouse's working at the same firm.
50) B
Laws that protect against discrimination based on marital status exist in just under half of the states.
51) D
Some companies might have a conflict-of-interest policy under which the employer refuses to hire or terminates a worker whose spouse works at a competing firm.
52) B
Most statutes or common law decisions provide for employer defenses for those rules that (a) are reasonably and rationally related to the employment activities of a particular employee, (b) constitute a "bona fide occupational requirement," meaning a rule that is reasonably related to that particular position, or (c) are necessary to avoid a conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict of interest.
53) A
The most public and publicized of these modifications was the adoption and implementation of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001. The USA PATRIOT Act expanded states' rights with regard to Internet surveillance technology, including workplace surveillance, and amended the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
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54) C
The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001grants access to sensitive data with only a court order rather than a judicial warrant and imposes or enhances civil and criminal penalties for knowingly or intentionally aiding terrorists.
55) B
Title II of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act provides roving surveillance authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to track individuals. (FISA investigations are not subject to Fourth Amendment standards but are instead governed by the requirement that the search serve "a significant purpose.")
56) B
The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001 expanded states' rights with regard to Internet surveillance technology, including workplace surveillance, and amended the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
57) privacy rights
With the tremendous increase in computer technology in recent decades, calls for greater protection of privacy rights have increased. Privacy rights are the legal and ethical sources of protection for privacy in personal data.
58) reciprocal obligation
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According to philosopher Patricia Werhane, for an individual to expect respect for her or his personal autonomy, that individual has a reciprocal obligation to respect the autonomy of others.
59) property rights
Private property rights depend on the existence and enforcement of a set of rules that define who has a right to undertake which activities on their own initiative and how the returns from those activities will be allocated. In other words, whether an individual has the exclusive right to her or his personal information depends on the existence and enforcement of a set of rules giving the individual that right.
60) third parties
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) prohibits the "interception" or unauthorized access of stored communications. However, courts have ruled that "interception" applies only to messages in transit and not to messages that have actually reached company computers. Therefore, the impact of the ECPA is to punish electronic monitoring only by third parties and not by employers.
61) email monitoring
Email monitoring is defined as the maintenance and either periodic or random review of email communications of employees or others for a variety of business purposes.
62) Hawthorne effect
According to the Hawthorne effect, workers are found to be more productive based on the psychological stimulus of being singled out, which makes them feel more important. In other words, merely knowing one is being studied might make one a better worker.
63) liberty
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Philosopher William Parent conceives the right to privacy more appropriately as a right to liberty and therefore seeks to determine the potential affront to liberty from the employer's actions.
64) lifestyle discrimination
New York's lifestyle discrimination statute prohibits employment decisions or actions based on four categories of off-duty activity: legal recreational activities, consumption of legal products, political activities, and membership in a union.
65) disability
In order to qualify as a disability, an impairment must substantially limit a major life activity.
66) Michigan
Compared to smoking, employment decisions on the basis of one's size and weight is handled in an entirely different manner by the states. Only one state (Michigan) and six U.S. cities ban discrimination on the basis of weight. In all other U.S. regions, employers are permitted to make employment decisions on the basis of weight, as long as those decisions do not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
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67) Workplace privacy issues evoke an inherent conflict between what some may consider to be a fundamental right of the employer to protect its interests and the similarly grounded right of the employee to be free from wrongful intrusions into her or his personal affairs. This conflict can arise in the workplace environment through the regulation of personal activities or personal choices, or through various forms of monitoring. Some forms of monitoring, such as drug testing, may occur after a job offer has been made but even before the individual begins working. Other forms might also occur once the individual begins to work, such as electronic surveillance of e-mail. Similarly, contrasting utilitarian arguments can be offered on the ethics of monitoring employees. The employer can argue that the only way to manage the workplace effectively and efficiently is to maintain knowledge about and control over all that takes place within it. The employee can simultaneously contend that she or he will be most productive in a supportive environment based on trust, respect, and autonomy. In any case, the question of balance remains. It remains to be addressed whose rights should prevail or which consequences take precedent.
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68) Two general and connected understandings of privacy can be found in the legal and philosophical literature on this topic: privacy as a right to be "left alone" within a personal zone of solitude, and privacy as the right to control information about oneself.
It is valuable to consider the connection between these two senses of privacy. Certain decisions that we make about how we live our lives, as well as the control of personal information, play a crucial role in defining our own personal identity. Privacy is important because it serves to establish the boundary between individuals and thereby defines one's individuality. The right to control certain extremely personal decisions and information helps determine the kind of person we are and the person we become. To the degree that we value the inherent dignity of each individual and the right of each person to be treated with respect, we must recognize that certain personal decisions and information is rightfully the exclusive domain of the individual. Many people believe that a right to be left alone is much too broad to be recognized as a moral right. This has led some people to conclude that a better understanding focuses on privacy as involving the control of personal information. From this perspective, the clearest case of an invasion of privacy occurs when others come to know personal information about us, as when a stranger reads your e-mail or eavesdrops on a personal conversation. Yet, the claim that a right of privacy implies a right to control all personal information might also be too broad. There are many occasions when others, particularly within an employment context, can legitimately know or need to know even quite personal information about us.
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69) The right to privacy is founded in the individual's fundamental, universal right to autonomy, in our right to make decisions about our personal existence without restriction. This right is restricted by a social contract in our culture that prevents us from infringing on someone else's right to her or his personal autonomy. Philosopher and academic Patricia Werhane describes this boundary as a "reciprocal obligation"; that is, for an individual to expect respect for her or his personal autonomy, that individual has a reciprocal obligation to respect the autonomy of others.
70) Ethicists Thomas Donaldson and Thomas Dunfee have developed an approach to ethical analysis that seeks to differentiate between those values that are fundamental across culture and theory ("hypernorms") and those values that are determined within "moral free space" and that are not hypernorms. Donaldson and Dunfee propose that we look to the convergence of religious, cultural, and philosophical beliefs around certain core principles as a clue to the identification of hypernorms. Donaldson and Dunfee include as examples of hypernorms freedom of speech, the right to personal freedom, the right to physical movement, and informed consent.
Individual privacy is at the core of many of these basic minimal rights and is, in fact, a necessary prerequisite to many of them. Accordingly, the value of privacy to civilized society is as great as the value of the various hypernorms to civilized existence. Ultimately, the failure to protect privacy may lead to an inability to protect personal freedom and autonomy.
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71) "Property" is an individual's life and all non-procreative derivatives of her or his life. Derivatives may include thoughts and ideas, as well as personal information. The concept of property rights involves a determination of who maintains control over tangibles and intangibles, including, therefore, personal information. Property rights relating to personal information thus define actions that individuals can take in relation to other individuals regarding their personal information. If one individual has a right to her or his personal information, someone else has a commensurate duty to observe that right.
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72) Privacy can be legally protected in three ways: by the constitution (federal or state), by federal and/or state statutes, and by the common law. Common law refers to the body of law comprised of the decisions handed down by courts, rather than specified in any particular statutes or regulations.
The Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection against an unreasonable search and seizure governs only the public-sector workplace because the Constitution applies only to state action. Therefore, unless the employer is the government or other representative of the state, the Constitution generally will not apply. Statutes offer little, if any, protection from workplace intrusions. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) prohibits the "interception" or unauthorized access of stored communications. However, courts have ruled that "interception" applies only to messages in transit and not to messages that have actually reached company computers. Therefore, the impact of the ECPA is to punish electronic monitoring only by third parties and not by employers. Moreover, the ECPA allows interception where consent has been granted. Therefore, a firm that secures employee consent to monitoring at the time of hire is immune from ECPA liability.
The "invasion of privacy" claim with which most people are familiar is one that developed through case law called "intrusion into seclusion." This legal violation occurs when someone intentionally intrudes on the private affairs of another when the intrusion would be "highly offensive to a reasonable person." As we begin to live more closely with technology, and the intrusions it allows, we begin to accept more and more intrusions in our lives as reasonable; as privacy invasions become more common, they begin to be closer to what is normal and expected. It may no longer be reasonable to be offended by intrusions into one's private life that used to be considered unacceptable.
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73) Many recent court decisions with regard to monitoring specifically seem to depend on whether the worker had notice that the monitoring might occur. Since the basis for finding an invasion of privacy is often the employee's legitimate and reasonable expectation of privacy, if an employee has actual notice, then there truly is no real expectation of privacy.
This conclusion was supported in K-Mart v. Trotti, where the court held that search of an employee's company-owned locker was unlawful invasion because the employee used his own lock. However, in a later landmark case, Smyth v. Pillsbury, Smyth sued after his manager read his e-mail, even though Pillsbury had a policy saying that e-mails would not be read. The court concluded, "we do not find a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of e-mail communications voluntarily made by an employee to his supervisor over the company email system, notwithstanding any assurances that such communications would not be intercepted by management." The end result of Smyth, then, is to allow for monitoring even when a firm promises not to monitor. Evidence of the impact of this decision is the fact that only two states, Connecticut and Delaware, require employers to notify workers when they are being monitored.
74) Employee privacy is violated whenever (a) employers infringe upon personal decisions that are not relevant to the employment contract (whether the contract is implied or explicit); or (b) personal information that is not relevant to that contract is collected, stored, or used without the informed consent of the employee. Further, since consent plays a pivotal role in this understanding, the burden of proof rests with the employer to establish the relevancy of personal decisions and information at issue.
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75) Economist Antonio Argandona contends that, if new technology is dependent on and has as its substance information and data, significant moral requirements should be imposed on that information. He suggests the following as necessary elements: Truthfulness and accuracy: The person providing the information must ensure that it is truthful and accurate, at least to a reasonable degree.
Respect for privacy: The person receiving or accumulating information must take into account the ethical limits of individuals' (and organizations') privacy. This would include issues relating to company secrets, espionage, and intelligence gathering.
Respect for property and safety rights: Areas of potential vulnerability, including network security, sabotage, theft of information and impersonation, are enhanced and must therefore be protected.
Accountability: Technology allows for greater anonymity and distance, requiring a concurrent increased exigency for personal responsibility and accountability.
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76) Technology allows for access to information that was never before possible. However, it is not always possible to determine whether the information has been accessed by someone or not. Access can take place unintentionally as well. Also, because technology allows us to work from almost anywhere on this planet, we are seldom out of the boundaries of our workplace. Continuous accessibility blurs the lines between our personal and professional lives.
Another challenge posed by the new technology accessible in the workplace is the facelessness that results from its use. If we have to face someone as we make our decisions, we are more likely to care about the impact of that decision on that person. Conversely, when we don't get to know someone because we don't have to see that person in order to do our business, we often don't take into account the impact of our decisions on him or her. It is merely a name at the other end of an e-mail correspondence, rather than another human being's name. Given the ease and informality of electronic communications, we also often "say" (write, e-mail, and the like) things to each other that we would never say to someone's face, precisely because we do not have to consider the impact of what we are saying. We are more careless with our communications because they are easier to conduct just hit a button and they are sent.
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77) A firm chooses to monitor its employees and collect the information discussed above for numerous reasons. Employers need to manage their workplaces to place workers in appropriate positions, to ensure compliance with affirmative action requirements, or to administer workplace benefits. Monitoring also allows the manager to ensure effective, productive performance by preventing the loss of productivity to inappropriate technology use. Research evidences a rise in personal use of technology.
Beyond the management of its human resources, monitoring offers an employer a method by which to protect its other 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.
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78) Drug testing is one area in which employers have a longer history of monitoring employees. The employer has a strong argument in favor of drug or other substance testing based on the law. Since the employer is often responsible for legal violations its employees committed in the course of their job, the employer's interest in retaining control over every aspect of the work environment increases. On the other hand, employees may argue that their drug usage is only relevant if it impacts their job performance. Until it does, the employer should have no basis for testing.
Though drug testing may provide a productivity benefit for companies, such policies may introduce legal and ethical challenges for employers. The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employers from inquiring about an employee's use of prescription drugs unless the employer has a reasonable basis for believing that the worker poses a safety threat or is unable to do his or her job.
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, this is not clear for jobs in which public safety is not at risk.
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79) 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. With regard to medical information specifically, employers' 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.
In recent years, polygraph and drug testing, physical and electronic surveillance, third-party background checks, and psychological testing have all been used as means to gain information about employees. One area that is sure to provide new questions about privacy is genetic testing. Genetic testing and screening, of both employees and consumers, is a new technology that will offer businesses a wealth of information about potential employees and customers.
The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) 2008 became effective in November 2009 and prohibits discriminatory treatment in employment based on genetic information.
GINA presents interesting questions since it defines "genetic information" in a more broad sense than one might imagine. Under GINA, one's genetic information is not merely information about him, but also his family's medical history, including any disease or disorder, or genetic test results of a family member. The term "family member" includes a person's dependents and relatives all the way to the fourth degree of kinship. In addition, GINA mandates that employers be extremely careful in terms of how they gather and manage employee genetic information as they are subject to similar conditions to the
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