OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm

Comments (4)

1. 

   tsiya

   This idea is very subject to abuse. There are too many people already looking for excuses to sit on their butt!

   3 years ago

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2. 

   Uncle MythMan Jay Hubbard

   If you 'quit your job for sound ethical reasons,' YOU ARE CHOOSING TO REFUSE THE PAY! Saying you want pay for it, that's even more-unethical than doing it anyway!

   If it's not, then there's a nation-or-five's population that owes me money for not becoming a hired assassin!

   3 years ago

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3. 

   Mary-Anne Wolf

   The problem with this idea is that it is a slipper slope. If your immediate boss is replaced by a person who is of a different ethnic background or gender or religion from your previous boss, and if you feel that reporting to the new boss seriously violates your world-view, those who would be troubled by this could try to use your system of ethics to quit and collect unemployment.

   For that matter, would quitting because your boss or someone in the management is an idiot count as ethical? Reasonable people could disagree.

   So what if you worked for a drug manufacturing company and your boss honestly believed in homeopathy and thus greatly reduced the dosages of the manufactured drugs. This would certainly be illegal if the package lied about the dosage. Would it be unethical?

   What if your employer decided to buy electricity from the least expensive source instead of from the most ecologically correct source. Could you quit for that?

   While I understand whistle blower laws, I think what you propose leaves too much open for abuse.

   3 years ago

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4. 

   greenspringvalley

   Regarding the comment:

   So what if you worked for a drug manufacturing company and your boss honestly believed in homeopathy and thus greatly reduced the dosages of the manufactured drugs. This would certainly be illegal if the package lied about the dosage. Would it be unethical?

   That's an EXCELLENT comment! I see your point. "Ethics" is open to interpretation, and a policy like this could turn into something bad.

   Perhaps an emphesis then on specific Democratically elected public laws which are known to cause substantial harm, for example illegal pollution and corruption. Even then, as your comments suggest, employees would be screaming "unethical" at every turn, to get a free paycheck.

   In this suggestion, I was suggesting a "turn my back and leaving something that I don't believe in" type of policy more than suggesting something that is aimed AT confronting situations, such as current whistleblower laws (which are more designed for confronting situations, which no one wants to do). There was a local incident years ago where chicken factory workers were asked to add chlorine bleach to old chickens to get rid of the smell. I respect that employees did NOT want to DO anything about it, they just wanted better jobs). NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE wants to get involved with whistleblower laws. Most people just want to work and live in good conscience with regard to what they produce by their work.

   Perhaps "LAW", not "ethics" would be the factor then. ie, if someone is asked to do something that is illegal under Democratically elected law, OR CONTRIBUTES to something that is illegal (ie covering a crime), he has the choice of collecting unemployment, permitting him to turn his back on the situation, and making Government aware of illegal pollution and corruption, WITHOUT the employee having to become involved in the case....it is a mere necessary step in drawing unemployment.

   My first consideration is that this would give Government a way of KNOWING when the law is being broken. Otherwise, the government is in the dark. Does anyone know of a better way to keep government informed specifically and only of activities of which Government itself disapproves?

   The other side of the coin is that I could see this going bad in other ways, ie Big Brother Government oversight of businesses. A policy along these lines would have to consider all sides, and protect business interests too.

   Supported laws could include only obvious laws that everyone agrees upon, such as illegal dumping in excess of such and such amount and the basic list of what constitutes corruption, for example (bribery, extortion, graft, illegal spying and embezzlement). To give this a concrete reference, consider a specific: an employee who is ordered to dump 50 gallons of oil into a river.

   Thus, the unemployment office would be THE place where corporate ethics is made known to government, and it is made known ONLY in instances where employees CHOOSE to simply leave.

   Again, not sure if this is a good idea. I can imagine it turning into another sour branch of Government.

   3 years ago

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