ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on ethical issues in five important areas: hiring and firing, compensation, the nature of work, privacy, and whistleblowing. It begins with some reflections about the source of moral obligations in employment. Employment relationships can be among the most significant relationships in a person's life. Ethical issues attend the beginning and end of employment relationships. Business ethicists have written extensively about the conditions under which employees may be terminated by employers. In the United States, the current law in almost all jurisdictions is "employment-at-will" (EAW). The main alternative to EAW is "just cause" dismissal rules. On this alternative, employers must have a good reason to terminate employees. In particular, most employees want to keep certain information private from their employers. The chapter considers research on employee ethics and rights. Most researchers in business ethics have looked "outward," investigating issues at the intersection of business and society.
