Employee privacy is a very controversial topic. The first issue at hand is whether or not the employer in Case 9.3 has the right to invade her employees’ privacy. It can be argued that employers don’t have the right to invade their employees’ privacy. It is one thing for an employer to monitor their employees in the workplace to make sure they are not doing something that will affect the company’s profits, but it is a much more egregious issue for the employer to go beyond his or her interest to invade his or her employees’ privacy when they are not working. The Washington State Constitution Article I, Section 7 states that “no person shall be disturbed in his private affairs.” Essentially, privacy is widely acknowledged to be a
The second issue at hand is whether or not the employer in Case 9.3 acted immorally by setting up the microphones in the break room. The issue of immorality is a difficult one. In the referenced case there are many directions which one could use to approach the subject. It can be argued that Fanuchi did in fact act immorally based on the utilitarian theory, libertarian theory, and under egoism. First, John Stewart Mill focused his view of utilitarianism on his belief that justice concerns certain rules or rights that are vitally important for all human well-being. The utilitarian view further illustrates that the maximization of happiness ultimately determines what is just and unjust. That being said, many employees in Case 9.3 were spied on. Some of them verbally said things that would have been unknown to their employers had the microphone not been secretly placed without the employees knowledge. This shows a violation of the rights of the identified individuals. Therefore, when Fanuchi installed the microphones she caused many people unhappiness in a variety of ways. This unhappiness would outweigh the happiness of Fanuchi and the business. Participation of the workers in the decision of whether to have the microphones installed or to discuss the problem at hand would have allowed for Fanuchi to have open dialogue with her employees to discuss the situation as well as get suggestions from the employees on how