Ethical Surveillance Paper

Words: 567
Pages: 3

The focus of surveillance would be narrowed regarding circumstances with ethical relativism. Ethical relativism is the concept that moral absolutes do not exist or there are no moral rights and wrongs. Instead, the idea of right and wrong is based on social norms. Ethical relativism embraces the idea that morals have evolved and changed over time, and therefore are not absolute. The theory of ethical relativism centers on the circumstances surrounding a certain situation, rather than the common good (Seaquist, 2012). Businesses may use an ethical relativism approach to monitor select employees based on a specific incident or situation. For instance, employers may suspect workplace violence or bullying, which could encourage them to look closer and one or more individuals.
Ethical relativism would assume a business already has a surveillance policy in place but chooses to look at specific employees following recent interactions. For example, complaints or concerns have surfaced regarding one employee's interactions with others. One employee claims this employee is sending threatening e-mails or messages. Another employee claims this employee is making derogatory comments both in private and public situations. This would give employers reason to look further into the daily activities of the employee in
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Under employment law, employees do not generally have privacy when concerning their work emails and phone calls. Phone calls and emails received and sent using company property can be viewed as company property as well. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act, for example, grants employers some immunity when it comes to how they choose to monitor their employees. On the other hand, tort law can be used to combat privacy issues in the workplace, assuming an employee has the grounds to fight the