Why Would You Treat the Honest as Though They Were Dishonest...

...instead of simply firing the @$$ of the dishonest?

The first time I heard about this latest corporate hoop, I laughed -- how ludicrous, I thought.

The second time, I thought, Blog post!

Even with "family-friendly" companies, it is now apparently commonplace to ask new employees to provide marriage certificates and "proof" that the marriage is still active, if they want to sign up for health-care benefits for their spouses. (For children's coverage, birth certificates are required, but apparently not proof that the child is still around.)

Clearly, there were people out there gaming the system in one way or another, getting coverage for those who weren't entitled to such coverage. (And people wonder why I'm in favor of national health insurance. Single-payer, too.)

It seems to me that if such gaming were so serious, the solution is to let employees know that lying about beneficiaries and their relationships to same is a firing offense.

You catch 'em out, you fire 'em.

Sadly, it's not the first time that I've found corporations -- which are usually quick enough to fire without cause (a.k.a. massive layoffs) -- unwilling to step up and fire for cause.

In a previous life, when I joined one company and asked about company credit cards, I was told, "Oh we don't do that anymore. We used to have them, but some of the field reps abused the privilege, so they were all taken away."

In other words, the honest were punished as well as the dishonest.

I know that the corporations will argue that it's because of our increasingly litigious society: that it's easier to pile on extra hoops for everyone to jump through than to risk lawsuits for an unfair dismissal.

So here again you have the situation where the honest are treated as though they were dishonest.

Easier maybe, but hardly more ethical.