Moral Rights of Employers and Employees

Talk radio locally was blathering on today about a Michigan court case in which an employer let go some employees on discovering that they smoke (tobacco), not on the job but at home. The NYTimes mentions the story as well. The Michigan ACLU is protesting the action in court, citing the workers private life. Several moral rights are in conflict here. It remains to be seen if the arguments which ensue will seriously consider fundamental ethics or just be used as a soapbox for right and left to holler past each other to drum up their respective supporters.

But, I'm not going to finish this thought tonight, unless the rest of this post crystallizes and keeps me from sleeping. It's not terribly late, but I'm scheduled for 2 hours (with 4-6, 6 minute "cruise" intervals) on the bike tonight and I've got to get started in order to get finished.

I will get back to this though. The ethical tensions between the rights of privacy and liberty seem like a juicy nut to chew on.