Employee Moral Rights: Recognizing Their Implicit Financial Investments in the Firm

The literature on employee (moral) rights has been limited to workplace human rights. This essay focuses on Employee Moral Rights defined as the moral claims individuals are entitled to due to their role as employees. Noting they make significant (although implicit) financial investments in the firm they work for, this essay argues dedicated employees should be treated as financial investors, which implies dedicated employees have the moral right to (1) be treated as every other financial investor; (2) share in the firm’s profits; (3) timely, accurate, and sufficient disclosure of significant information; (4) protection from senior managers’ abusive self-dealing; and (5) mechanisms to protect their financial investment including fair severance payments and effective pension protection.

Edilberto F. MontemayorEmail: