Listening 12. Liability risks

Rosemary Valentine, romantic novelist

Dr. Alice Lee, a general practitioner

Equality. Yes, well… I’m doctor, so I suppose you could say that I have an interesting, rewarding and important job. However, I have experienced tremendous prejudice from male colleagues, and after all, while there are plenty of women doctors, most of the surgeons and top consultants are men. The argument’s always the same, in all spheres of activity, that women will leave the job to have babies. Of course not all women want to have babies, so this is tremendously unjust. Personally I did want children… I’ve got two… and I stopped work to have them. Children are always forgotten in the argument. I’ve always felt that it is a very narrow view of life to value a person purely in terms of job status. I believe we should remove the barriers against women at work, but I also do not see myself only as a working person, ‘Dr. Lee’. Being a mother is a very important social role, and we need to re-assess our view of motherhood and to regard it as equally valid as any job. It is absurd to think a woman is ‘more successful’ as a Prime Minister, than as a mother. Of course this is equally true for men. Couples who have swopped roles, where the mother has gone out to work, and the father has stayed at home, will tell you that both jobs are equally important; and even that being at home is more damaging, emotionally and physically.

Perhaps I come from a different generation. When I was a girl things were quite different. I enjoy having doors open for me. I like it when men stand up as I enter a room, make sure that I am seated before them. I feel that the romance has gone out of life today. I used to love getting dressed up for a party, having my hair done and so on. I never felt inferior – just different. I wouldn’t want my husband to help me in the house, and I’d feel strange if he did. I also can’t worry about all this fuss about words. We are supposed to say ‘chairperson’ rather than ‘chairman’. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t see it as terribly important. I think my husband is a typical example of a male chauvinist pig, but I like him that way.

Ms. Brewer: Good morning, Mrs. Howard, Mr. Howard. Please come in.

Mrs. Howard: Good morning, Ms Brewer.

Mr. Howard: Hello.

Ms. Brewer: Please have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?

Mrs. Howard: No, thanks, I'm fine.

Mr. Howard: Not for me, thanks.

Ms Brewer: Right, then. On the phone, you told me that you wanted to speak to me about drug testing at your company. Maybe you could tell me something about what's going on at your company at the moment. How's business?

Mrs. Howard: Not bad, we can't complain, can we, John?

Mr. Howard: No, no, business is fine. Actually the demand for cleaning services and facility management is growing in the area. But we're here to ask for your advice - we think we've got a drug problem among our employees...

Mrs. Howard:... and we're considering starting drug testing, some sort of programme that all the employees have to participate in. We just can't tolerate the current situation. There are at least three of the younger men, window cleaners, who we're sure, really sure, are taking drugs, even while they're on the job, and one of the supervisors, who we... we think is also.. '

Mr. Howard: It's just that we think it's dangerous.

Mrs. Howard:.. and it's bad for our reputation,

Ms Brewer: Right. If I could just jump in here and summarise what you've been telling me. You suspect that several of your employees abuse drugs and so you're contemplating implementing a drug-testing programme, is that correct? And you'd like me to inform you about the legality of such a course of action.

Mr. Howard: Yeah, that's right.

Ms Brewer: Weil, first of all, I should say that the legal position on drug testing at work isn't at all clear at present. There's no direct legislation, and important legal questions depend on the interpretation of numerous provisions in health and safety, employment, human rights and data-protection law. This is a very tricky area, and one would have to proceed very carefully.

Mrs. Howard: What do you mean?

Ms Brewer: Well, if you were to subject your employees to drug testing, and you found out that a worker abused illegal substances and then terminated his employment, there's a good chance that you could be sued for violating the employee's right to privacy.

Mr. Howard: But what about my rights? Such as my right as an employer to maintain a drug-free workplace?

Mrs. Howard: Exactly!

Ms Brewer: I agree with you, Mr. Howard, but we have to look at what the law says. Generally speaking, the courts in our jurisdiction have only tended to rule in favour of the employer in those cases where the dismissed employee has been engaged in safety-sensitive work, And where the employer had implemented a long-term workplace safety policy that included not only drug testing, but also the opportunity for the workers to get treatment for their drug problems.

Mr. Howard: But that could take ages! We can't risk waiting until they've had a chance to kick their drug habits!

Mrs. Howard: John's right - we need to act on this now.

Ms Brewer: I'm afraid I have to disagree with you both. In my opinion, you risk more by acting hastily, by making a knee-jerk reaction to the problem. You risk costly litigation that you'd most likely lose,

Mrs. Howard: That may be true, but we can't just sit back and do nothing.

Mr. Howard: I couldn't agree more! There must be something we can do to respond to the situation right now. After all, these three workers are window cleaners, and there's most definitely a safety issue involved. We're responsible for the safety of our workers and for the safety of others.

Ms Brewer: I see your point, and you're absolutely right - you do bear responsibility for the safety of others. Let me suggest something you could do immediately: you could consider re-assigning the workers in question to different tasks, to jobs that are less safety-sensitive. And then you could launch a new workplace safety initiative, concentrating on drug and alcohol abuse, with employee meetings, memos and the like informing your workers of the new policy.

Mrs. Howard: That's not a bad idea...

Listening for Task 6 from Supplementary Materials for Self-study:

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