Discussion Week 6

You work in HR for a company that operates a factory manufacturing fiberglass. There are several hundred employees working in a variety of positions.

Your boss has seen a program about drug abuse. 

He comes into your office in a very excited state.

He wants to hire a company to make an unannounced, random drug test of all the employees in the factory.  

Some employees work in dangerous jobs (large manufacturing equipments) but others do not (secretarial/administrative work). 

The company in the past has paid for some employees to go to rehabilitation centers for alcoholism - these employees either came forward asking for help or had been confronted over deteriorating performance suspected to be due to alcohol abuse.

You say you'd like to look into the matter and send him a memo on the subject.

Write a short memo addressed to your boss expressing your opinion on his idea for unannounced, random drug testing of all employees.  

Are there [legal] risks?  Can these risks be minimized?

Topic 2:

An employee comes to your office and says he wants to anonymously make a complaint to the US Occupational Safety and Health Act.  He doesn't want his identity known to his supervisor, who told a group of employees that he would make life difficult for anyone who complained about working conditions.

How would you handle this?

[or, in lieu of No. 2 "Locate the workplace violence policy from an actual organization. Briefly summarize it. Is it effective; legally defensible?  Why or why not? Please explain.]

Be sure to interact with at least one classmate on each question.