Re: Civil liberties of employees (Re: FYB_oss)

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 6:15 AM 5/13/96, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote:
>From:   IN%"tcmay@got.net" 13-MAY-1996 00:55:07.93
>
>>Actually, one _does_ check one's Constitutional rights "at the door" (of an
>>employer), and the confusion over this issue is pervasively destroying real
>>Constitutional rights.
>
>>For instance, if I hire someone, I can require him or her to wear a
>>uniform, to not wear blue jeans to work, to not smoke (or even to smoke, if
>>this is what the job involves), to take off his or her clothes, to tap
>>dance, to not say anything to my customers, and on and on. If the
>>government required these behaviors, this would be a legitimate issue, but
>>not if employers set these conditions as terms of continued employment.
>
>        In general, I agree... but one important point to make is the contract.
>If the contract says that you can require the employee to tap dance, then you
>can require the employee to tap dance. If the contract _doesn't_ require the

Sure, I agree that _contracts_ can make a difference. But note that
contracts are not a requirement of employment: I can, for example, hire
someone to rake my leaves. If he decides that manual labor violates his
"civil rights," I can give him the boot. No muss, no fuss, no contracts.

(But contracts are of course possible. Enforcement of the terms is another
matter. By the way, I think enforcement of such contracts should be handled
outside the normal legal system, and paid for by the parties using the
system.)

--Tim

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