Chapter 11 - The Rights of Engineers

Abstract

This chapter examines the rights of engineers, based on previous discussions throughout the text. It begins with an exercise regarding sexual harassment in the work place, drawing attention to the importance and nature of employee rights. The chapter moves on to introduce rights in relation to duties, explaining the nature of rights in terms of not only negative protections but also positive guarantees. In addition to considering employee rights in general, privacy is examined as a limit on the power of employers, and racial and sexual discrimination as violations of employee rights. Given their professional status and work with technologies, in addition to general employee rights, engineers should be entitled to special rights as employees, including ones related to whistle-blowing and intellectual property. The chapter ends by considering the enforcement of rights: why and how rights are violated, and what can be done to ensure their enforcement.