The Routledge Companion to Business Ethics

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Employee ethics and rights

Jeffrey Moriarty^*

Employment relationships can be among the most significant relationships in a person’s life. For many people, work requires a major commitment of time and effort, offers a source of purpose, identity, and self-esteem, and provides the material resources needed to live a decent life. But the moral contours of the employment relationship are still not well understood. This chapter advances our understanding of them by considering two general questions. What obligations do employers have toward their employees? What obligations do employees have toward their employers? I approach these questions from a moral rather than a legal perspective. Although I discuss relevant laws, I focus on what employers ...