Ethics

There are some approaches to ethics that look at an action and its morality. Examples of these theories are deontological ethics, utilitarian ethics and normative ethics. Deontological ethics look at action based on its obedience to a rule. In the case of employment information, some information may be required while some may not be required. Normative ethics examines if an action is considered normal of how someone ought to conduct himselfherself. In the case of employment agreement, some questions are expected in the course of employer and employees discloser. The utilitarian ethics considers whether an action serves its purpose in the concerned parties.

The company which I am working for is a Christian Book Store. I have been hired as a clerk. One of the questions asked was my date of birth. The position advertisement did not mention a certain age requirement. I did not find knowledge of my age relevant to the job. This violated deontological ethics. Age should have been asked if the employer wanted to ascertain that I was over 18 years, or if there were specific situations that required knowledge of my age, for example, pension benefits.

Another question was my faith. The work I had to do had nothing to do with my personal beliefs. Since I qualified to work as a clerk, I could work as a clerk regardless of my faith or lack of faith. This question violated normative ethics. I found this question to violate my privacy.

Another question that was asked was if I had children. There was no relationship between my job and my family life. Information about my personal life did not serve is not a requirement for my hiring or ability to work. This violated utilitarian ethics.

These questions were unnecessary for my job agreement.