Drinking in the Workplace
I
Branch, Inc. has been losing ground to its competitors in
recent years. Concerned that substance abuse may be responsible
for much of Branch's decline, the company has just adopted a
policy that imposes sanctions on those employees found to be
working under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs.
John Crane and Andy Pullman have worked together in one of
the engineering divisions of Branch for several years.
Frequently John has detected alcohol on Andy's breath when they
were beginning work in the morning and after work breaks during
the day. But, until the new policy was announced it never
occured to John that he should say anything to Andy about it,
let alone tell anyone else about it. Andy's work always has
always been first rate, and John is not the kind of person who
feels comfortable discussing such matters with others.
Two days before the announcement of the new alcohol and drug
policy, Andy tells John that he is being considered for the
position of head of quality control. Although pleased at the
prospect of Andy's promotion, John wonders if Andy's drinking
will get in the way of meeting his responsibilities. John
worries that, with additional job pressures, Andy's drinking
problem will worsen. What should John do?
- Talk with Andy about his drinking.
- Keep quiet and mind his own business, leaving the problem
up to Andy and those who have the responsibility to select
someone for the job.
- Other.
II
Harvey Hillman, Plant Manager at Branch, knows that Andy and
John have worked together many years. He has narrowed his
choice for Head of Quality Control to Andy and one other
person. He invites John out for lunch to see if he can learn
something more about Andy from John. Should John volunteer
information about Andy's drinking? Suppose Harvey says, "This
is a really important decision. We need a top person for the
quality control job. We've had some real problems the last few
years with shoddy production, probably because of alcohol and
drug abuse in the workplace. I had to move Jack Curtis out of
head of quality control because he was drunk on the job. We
have to get this under control. The new policy might help. But
quality control will still have to keep a really close eye on
things." Should John say anything now?
III
Branch's policy on the use of alcohol and drugs has been in
effect for a year. It does not seem to have made a significant
difference. Absenteeism is still high. Shoddy workmanship
continues. And Branch's profit margins are still declining.
Management is now proposing mandatory random drug testing for
its non-professional workforce, and mandatory drug testing for
all new workers. The labor union protests that such a policy is
undesirable in two respects. First, it is an unwarranted
invasion of the privacy of workers. Second, exempting
professionals from the testing is discriminatory and,
therefore, unjust. Since John knows you have a longstanding,
serious interest in ethics, he asks you what you think about
the two concerns of the union.