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Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace
Brilliantly lays out the bitter that the American workplace is a dictatorship where workers have few, if any, rights." -Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
An expose of the shocking ways that companies invade employees' privacy and restrict their freedom.
Is it legal for your employer to fire you for writing a letter to the editor? Or for putting the "wrong" candidate's bumper sticker on your car? If you answered no, prepare to be shocked.
Americans assume that their basic rights, such as privacy and freedom of speech, remain in force when they go to work. But what if your boss checked your personal e-mail to see if you were really working over the weekend? Or fired you after discovering you had a disease?
Workers' rights advocate Lewis Maltby shares dozens of stories of employees who have been fired or harassed unfairly-but legally.
?A man denied a job at a retail chain for failing a psychological test that probed his sex life, religious beliefs, even his bathroom habits
?A group of women at a storage company with no legal recourse after discovering a hidden camera installed by their manager in the women's restroom
?A longtime employee dismissed for having a beer after work, because his boss believed drinking was a sin
Over the last twenty years, Maltby has heard hundreds of stories just like these. His expose will change the way you think about your workplace. Bosses abuse and take advantage of their employees every day and get away with it. If a worker steals a hundred dollars out of the cash register and gets caught, he will be criminally prosecuted and very possibly sent to prison. If an employer steals a hundred dollars in wages from a worker, or a hundred dollars from every worker in the company, there is virtually no chance of criminal prosecution.
There is a silver lining, however. As Maltby shows, there are steps that we all can take to restore our rights in the workplace.
An expose of the shocking ways that companies invade employees' privacy and restrict their freedom.
Is it legal for your employer to fire you for writing a letter to the editor? Or for putting the "wrong" candidate's bumper sticker on your car? If you answered no, prepare to be shocked.
Americans assume that their basic rights, such as privacy and freedom of speech, remain in force when they go to work. But what if your boss checked your personal e-mail to see if you were really working over the weekend? Or fired you after discovering you had a disease?
Workers' rights advocate Lewis Maltby shares dozens of stories of employees who have been fired or harassed unfairly-but legally.
?A man denied a job at a retail chain for failing a psychological test that probed his sex life, religious beliefs, even his bathroom habits
?A group of women at a storage company with no legal recourse after discovering a hidden camera installed by their manager in the women's restroom
?A longtime employee dismissed for having a beer after work, because his boss believed drinking was a sin
Over the last twenty years, Maltby has heard hundreds of stories just like these. His expose will change the way you think about your workplace. Bosses abuse and take advantage of their employees every day and get away with it. If a worker steals a hundred dollars out of the cash register and gets caught, he will be criminally prosecuted and very possibly sent to prison. If an employer steals a hundred dollars in wages from a worker, or a hundred dollars from every worker in the company, there is virtually no chance of criminal prosecution.
There is a silver lining, however. As Maltby shows, there are steps that we all can take to restore our rights in the workplace.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 26, 2018
A terrifying and depressing read, but essential if you are an employee. Our most cherished Constitutional rights, freedom of speech, right to privacy, basically evaporate the moment you walk into work. You can be fired from your job for saying the wrong thing, having the wrong bumper sticker, or even telling the truth. Your employer can read all your emails without telling you or even record you using the bathroom and there's pretty much nothing you can do about it. American courts have reaffirmed time and again that the Constitution doesn't protect workers from any such abuse. The Constitution only applies if you happen to work for the government.
The vast majority of American employees are "at will" workers who legally can be fired at any time for any reason, outside of a few rare exceptions. People can be fired for drinking or smoking at home on the weekends. People can be fired for complaining about their boss in private emails to their friends. The only people who are protected are union workers whose contracts demand "cause, " a legitimate reason must exist before they can be let go. Everyone else is out of luck.
It doesn't have to be this way of course. People in other countries don't have this sword of Damocles hanging over their heads constantly. This is not a law of nature but the law of a business-driven society that cares little about the little people. We can change this and we should. First you should educate yourself about precisely how bad this situation really is. Reading this book would be a great start.
The vast majority of American employees are "at will" workers who legally can be fired at any time for any reason, outside of a few rare exceptions. People can be fired for drinking or smoking at home on the weekends. People can be fired for complaining about their boss in private emails to their friends. The only people who are protected are union workers whose contracts demand "cause, " a legitimate reason must exist before they can be let go. Everyone else is out of luck.
It doesn't have to be this way of course. People in other countries don't have this sword of Damocles hanging over their heads constantly. This is not a law of nature but the law of a business-driven society that cares little about the little people. We can change this and we should. First you should educate yourself about precisely how bad this situation really is. Reading this book would be a great start.
October 3, 2010
"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." - Anatole France
To get a job at Target, I had to take the MMPI psychological test, which asked if I agreed with statements like 'I am not sorry I am a girl,' 'Evil spirits possess me' or 'Some days I wake up refreshed.' While being forced to partake in this idiocy did stir up some righteous indignation, I persevered through the test and ended up being hired to work in the electronics department, where I managed to evade the evil spirits trying to possess me. Turns out, someone else felt more righteous indignation than I did, and ended up filing a class action lawsuit against Target.
Your employer can put hidden videocameras in bathrooms, make you pee into a cup in front of someone else, fire you because your spouse poses in a provocative magazine, terminate your employment because they don't like the political bumper sticker on your car, or fire you because you drink alcohol in your own home during your time off, and all sorts of unbelievable reasons.
It's amazing how many rights we have let corporations accumulate at the expense of our own individual rights.
To get a job at Target, I had to take the MMPI psychological test, which asked if I agreed with statements like 'I am not sorry I am a girl,' 'Evil spirits possess me' or 'Some days I wake up refreshed.' While being forced to partake in this idiocy did stir up some righteous indignation, I persevered through the test and ended up being hired to work in the electronics department, where I managed to evade the evil spirits trying to possess me. Turns out, someone else felt more righteous indignation than I did, and ended up filing a class action lawsuit against Target.
Your employer can put hidden videocameras in bathrooms, make you pee into a cup in front of someone else, fire you because your spouse poses in a provocative magazine, terminate your employment because they don't like the political bumper sticker on your car, or fire you because you drink alcohol in your own home during your time off, and all sorts of unbelievable reasons.
It's amazing how many rights we have let corporations accumulate at the expense of our own individual rights.
February 8, 2010
Good overview on how (the lack of) laws affects employees. Interesting fact: the state of Montana implemented a law requiring just cause for dismissal. Since the passage of that law, their economy has grown three-fold, bypassing any other state. What is good for employees also helps the market economy.
October 9, 2013
Maltby casts an interesting light on the current status of workplace rights. Unfortunately, he abuses his credentials to bend history in favor of a clear partisan bias that left a sour taste to his concluding chapter.
From page 243: "Virtually every law in history the helped employees was initiated by Democrats and opposed by Republicans."
Maltby surely knows the reality that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (a big law in history he references several times in his book) passed in SPITE of strong Southern opposition, a group largely populated by Democrats. Heck, it was Sen Albert Gore, Sr. (D-TN) that encouraged the 83-day filibuster of the bill. http://goo.gl/6kmkLt
Neither party is very appealing in my view, but the truth should always surface above partisan bias. If Maltby is serious about dismantling what he depicts as a highly biased workplace environment, he must first stand for truth above all else.
From page 243: "Virtually every law in history the helped employees was initiated by Democrats and opposed by Republicans."
Maltby surely knows the reality that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (a big law in history he references several times in his book) passed in SPITE of strong Southern opposition, a group largely populated by Democrats. Heck, it was Sen Albert Gore, Sr. (D-TN) that encouraged the 83-day filibuster of the bill. http://goo.gl/6kmkLt
Neither party is very appealing in my view, but the truth should always surface above partisan bias. If Maltby is serious about dismantling what he depicts as a highly biased workplace environment, he must first stand for truth above all else.
June 19, 2011
Lewis Maltby has written a terrifying book about the dimunition of workre's rights. The real life examples almost sound absurd until you realize that the stories he's telling are true! Maltby also has recommendations for ways we could address these issues without bringing the workplace and the concepts of employment to a stop. If you think that employees in the US have adequate rights and protections this book will honestly terrify you. I have never been so glad that I don't work for someone else.
February 26, 2010
An important reminder on how our "American" freedoms extend only as far as the office door. The best way to carry them further is to unionize and negotiate a strong collective bargaining agreement.
September 18, 2010
All you want to know about workers' rights, from privacy to mandatory arbitration to drug testing on the job.
June 20, 2023
Meh. I read the first couple of chapters but I couldn't get into it. If my boss fired me because I had a beer on my own time, or wrote and opinion they didn't like in the editorials, I wouldn't want to work for them. When I have a shitty boss who ignores workplace violence, sexual harassments etc. I leave. If people acted like me, then they'd go out of business. If I found a spy camera in the Bathroom, and there was nothing I could do legally, I'd fight back online and I'd find a new job. I've had to change jobs and careers. It always sucked at first but getting fired was always the best thing to happen to me as I didn't belong there in the first place. I should have quit a lot of jobs sooner than I did.
November 21, 2011
I only could stand to skim the book. Here's the Cliff's Notes:
You work. You're screwed. As the lawyer/author points out, the only logical solution is more laws.
Seriously?
It's rather unsettling to see all the ways we have no rights in the workplace and the legal background for such. That portion of the book is interesting. But it really falls short of the "retaking" portion.
You work. You're screwed. As the lawyer/author points out, the only logical solution is more laws.
Seriously?
It's rather unsettling to see all the ways we have no rights in the workplace and the legal background for such. That portion of the book is interesting. But it really falls short of the "retaking" portion.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews