Business Ethics Essay Sample

Every person in the world has a dream of living longer and healthier in this life. However, this dream does not always come to pass because people will always get sick time and again. It is therefore necessary that a person take all the best measures possible so as to remain healthy. Health issue are known to be very costly and they should be avoided in the best way possible. It is common that when a company hires some people, it caters for their health expenses. Companies are therefore known to lose a lot of money on this and they will always try and cut on these costs.

In addition, I find it a prudent and an economically sound idea for a company or business institutions to assist its employees live a healthier life. This is positive both to the company and to the employee as they realized their dream of remaining healthy while the company or the business institution cuts on its expenses. However, there are some ethical issues that are associated with some firms or some business organizations cutting on the employee’s medical or health expenses. Some companies are known to discourage employment of people who are sick. This is unethical as it can also be termed as discrimination on the basis of health.

It has never been a dream of any person to be sick and therefore, they should not be discriminated against it. As Hartman, L. & Desjardins, J, (2008), says, there is a clause in practically all the business institutions and also in the employment law in all the states that no person should be discriminated out of employment on the basis of their race, religion, health status or family backgroud. It can therefore be argued that all those business organizations that are known to elimite those persons who are unhealthy from its operation are highly unethical.

They do not follow the requirement of the employment Act or the requierments of their codes of ethics. Using such strategy to cut expenses is a clear indication of how irresponsible the organization might be. An organization that uses such a strategy is a greedy organization, very unethical and one which is only exploiting the employees. By using this trategy, the organization is infridging the rights of the workers to work in conducive environment. They are also denied the right to a good life and the right to gainful and meaningful employment.

Any organization that employs this strategy can therefore described as an irrespobsible one and should face the full wrath of law in the country that is it operating in. It is the duty of the employer to ensure that the employee is in good health. (Hartman, L. & Desjardins, J. , 2008) In addition, it is the duty of the employer to inform and at the same time encourage the employee to join the employee wellness program in the state as this reduces its healthcare expenses. Failure to do this has serious implications as it can lead to fine,a jail term or both for the person found guilty.

There are some people who do not take good care of themselves well. Such type of people will sometimes end up with very high healthcare bills. Such people may have a lot of expenses on the company. However, this does not mean that the company should make them pay for their bill. The company should rather encourage them to join the employee wellness program that is in the region. (Hartman, L. & Desjardins, J. , 2008) These programs or companies that offer these services are very good at investigating and assessing whether they are going to pay for ill health.

They will not discriminate against such people and they will only pay them when they have to. This would also encourage such people to be more careful and therefore reduce the risks. If my past and the current health practices were part of my employment application, I would not be comfortable with that. The reason is that one is never sure of the employer before employment. I am therefore not sure whether they will discriminate me based on my health history. However, this would depend on my health history. If I had been living a healthy life, I would have lesser problem with this information being part of my application.

(Hartman, L. & Desjardins, J. , 2008) In conclusion, it is absurd that some of the most respected companies in the world are engaging in some unethical practices of firing, charging or discriminating people who happen to have ill health while they are working in their organization. They are failing to understand that they should be professional in their duties and among the major factors in professionalism is being ethical. They also fail to understand that it is illegal to discriminate a person on the basis of their health as most of the health issues are beyond the victim’s control. ?