Zero hour contracts refers to agreements where an employer is not obligated to provide an employee with any minimum working hours. On the other hand, the worker should not accept any minimum working hours from the employer. Zero hour contracts resemble casual employments (Lavery, 2014 8). The employees have the freedom to determine the amount of time they will be available to offer services to the employer. As a result, in such contracts, there is no permanent employment. Companies tend to rely on the people who are more available for working hours. In zero hour contracts, the employer has the obligation to offer work to the employees. As a result, the workers who turn down shifts get fewer opportunities in future(Adams, Freedland, and Prassl, 2015 5) . There have been debates on whether this type of contract is beneficial to both the employer and employee or is oppressive.  Zero our contract has both positive and negative employees to the two parties of the agreement. The paper will aim to evaluate zero hour contracts. It will evaluate the practice in an ethical perspective. It will compare the Rawls’ Theory of Justice, Utilitarianism and Deontology. This will help to determine if zero hour contracts should be encouraged or discouraged. The paper will aim to determine if zero hour contracts are ethical agreements or not based on various ethical theories. It will focus on the utilitarianism, deontology and Rawls theory of justice to evaluate the agreement.

Zero hour contracts in the UK have increased in the recent past. The numbers of employees who work under this agreement represent more than 2.5% of the total workforce. There are various factors which have contributed to an increase in Zero hour contracts in the UK. One of them is that employees in these agreements are protected by the law in various aspects (Lavery, 2014 11). First, they are entitled to an annual leave like any other person employed on permanent basis. Additionally, they are also entitled to a minimum wage. This implies that these types of agreements are legal in the UK and encouraged by the government. People in these contracts have the freedom to look for work I other areas (Adams et al., 2015 12), They have the freedom to ignore some of the clauses in the contract they sign with the employers. This only occurs when the clauses are made to hinder the zero contract workers from looking for opportunities in other region (Lavery, 2014 13). This implies that these types of agreements encourage workers to maximize the utility they obtain from their employment. Most of the people in the zero hour contracts are the young employees aged between 16 and 24 years. At this time, such people are not settled in stable employments. They are in the process of looking for a permanent job, hence require a lot of time to pursue their objectives. It gives them adequate time to try various opportunities in the job market, with an aim of establishing the ones which best suits them.

There are various theories which are concerned about ethics in the community. They explain how an act can be categorized as right or wrong. One of them is Rawls theory of justice, which gives principles which can be used to guarantee a just a morally acceptable society. One of the princip0les states that a person should be granted the right to have the most extensive basic freedom, which is compatible with the liberty of other (Amartya, 2017 29). This principle implies that people should be given the freedom to interact with other people in the society, and it should enhance the liberty of other people. The second principle of the Rawls theory of justice is that soc ail and economic positions should be to everyone’s advantage and be open to all. This implies that the people in the society should be given equal chances of participating in productive activities, and should reap the maximum benefit.  According to Rawls’ Theory of Justice, an act which is morally right is the one which encourages justice and increases the benefit to a person.

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory which determines whether an act is right or wrong based on the outcomes. According to the theory, an ethical act is the one which produces benefits to the biggest number of people. It emphasizes on the importance of increasing the utility people gain from participating in various activities(Secchi, 2007 354) . It is majorly concerned about the impact off an action on the people involved.  On the other hand, deontology is a theory in ethics which evaluates the morality of an action on the basis of whether the action is right in itself. It based on a series of laws, which determine whether an action is allowed or not (Van Staveren, 2007 26). According to the theory, an action which is morally right is the one which is allowed by the law irrespective of the consequences. The theory emphasize on the importance of adherence to the law in the society.

The Rawls theory of justice and utilitarianism are similar in that they emphasize on the outcome of an activity. They argue that an action which is morally right is the one which confers benefit to the biggest number of people. This is contrary to the arguments of the deontology theory. It emphasizes on adherence to the law. Any activity which is legally allowed is deemed to be moral irrespective of the outcome.  However, the three theories are similar in that they are used to examine the circumstances which are used to determine if an activity is allowed in the society or not. They can be used to evaluate various actions to determine if they should be encouraged or not. In the deontology theory, an action is ethical if it is in accordance with the law. However, the laws are passed to protect the people in the society. This implies that regulations are made to confer benefit to the biggest portion of the population. As a result, utilitarianism, deontology and Rawls theory of justice are based on the benefit of an activity to the society.

The three ethical theories can be used in the evaluation of zero hour contracts. From the Rawls theory of justice perspective, these types of agreements could be seen as ethical.  This suggestion is based on the fact that zero hour contracts enhance freedom and liberty as stated in the Rawls theory of justice. Additionally, it ensures that the participants in the contract are free to decide on what to do. Both parties are not obliged to fixed working hours. On the other hand, zero hour contracts enhance benefit to the participants. This is mostly concerned with the employee, who is at liberty to look for the job that best suits them (Amartya, 2017 34). They should not be forced to work in a firm where they are not comfortable with. They are at liberty to skip some shifts to look for more lucrative opportunities. Zero hour contracts also have some benefits to the employer. It saves the organization the cost of offering some benefits to the employees. As a result, this type of agreement offers benefit to all the participants, hence it should be encouraged.

From the perspective of utilitarianism, zero hour contacts should be allowed. People should consider the effects of the agreements on both parties (Secchi, 2007 362). Zero hour contracts enhance freedom for the workers. They given them a chance to take part in the job opportunities which best suits them without being cohaersed. However, the people who do not attend some shifts have lower chances of getting opportunities in the same organization in future. On the other hand, zero hour contracts offer an opportunity to employers to establish the most productive workers. It also saves them the cost of offering some benefits to the employees, despite the fact that they are entitled to the minimum wage and annual leave like other employees/. Thus, zero hour contracts should be encouraged, based on the perspective of the utilitarian theory.

The deontology ethical theory can also be used to evaluate zero hour contracts. It emphasizes on the importance of adherence to the law when carrying out various activities (Van Staveren, 2007 29). I the perspective of this theory, zero hour contracts should be encouraged. These agreements are legal in the UK. Additionally, the employees who work on the basis of zero hour contracts are protected by the law. They are entitled to annual leave and minimum wage like any other permanent employee. Additionally, the number of people employed on zero hour contract terms in the UK is increasing. This implies that such agreements do not amount to violation of the law. As a result, they should be encouraged because they confer benefit to both the employers and the workers. Thus, based on the three ethical theories, Zero hour contracts do not cause significant harm to the people involved. They are aimed to ensure that workers are able to choose the work to do. However, there are arguments that these agreements are oppressive because people in these contracts are not entitled to some benefits like the people employed on permanent basis.

In conclusion, zero hour contracts are legal and increasing in the UK. They entail a situation where an employee is not entitled to fixed number of working hours. Similarly, an employer does not have the obligation to give fixed number of working hours to the staff. There are various advantages and shortcoming of zero hour contracts, both to the employer and employee. These agreements can be evaluated on the basis of various ethical theories to establish if they should be encouraged or not. According to the Rawls theory of justice, an action is moral if it offers freedom to people and confers benefit to the participant. This implies that when zero hour contracts are evaluated on the basis of this theory, then they should be encouraged because they give workers the freedom to look for the job they want. Based on the perspective of utilitarianism, an action is right or wrong depending on its consequences.  In most cases, zero hour contracts are advantageous to both the employers and workers. As a result, they should be encouraged. The last theory which can be used to evaluate zero hour contacts is the deontology ethics. It states that an action is ethical if it is right in itself and conforms to the law. This theory lays no emphasis on the consequences of an action. Zero hour contracts are allowed in the UK and the people in these agreements are protected by the law.

To avoid exploitation of employees, there are various policies which should be passed.  They should be aimed to enhance the benefits which employers and employees derive from zero hour contracts. First, the government should outline the benefits which people in these contracts are entitled to. This will help to ensure that companies do not advantage of the people employed on zero hour contracts. Additionally, the people in this type of agreements should be enlightened on their rights. This will help to ensure that zero hour contracts are beneficial to both the employers and employees. The government should pass regulations which will govern the relationship in a zero hour contract.

 
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