Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace »

Lewis Maltby, an expert in employment law, is president and founder of the National Workrights Institute. The former head of the ACLU's national workplace rights office, he is quoted frequently in the media. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Visit: http://www.workrights.org to learn more

Brilliantly lays out the bitter truth: 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. Consider:

•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.

Publishers Weekly

Maltby, president and founder of the National Workrights Institute, provides chilling insight into personal rights in the workplace and existing laws, which, with rare exception, side with employers. Such liberties as freedom of speech, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, protect us only from governmental intrusions and do nothing to safeguard us from private enterprise. Maltby relays shocking stories of employer abuses, including tracking employees through cell phone GPS locators, placing hidden cameras in restrooms, and asking potential employees for details on everything from religious beliefs to sex lives. A staggering 20% of employers now require employees to agree before being hired not to go to court if the corporation violates their legal rights. Maltby shows employees how to protect themselves as much as possible under the existing laws and urges them to fight for bringing the Bill of Rights to apply to the private sector. Appendixes provide sample letters to elected representatives and human rights organizations as well as an Employee Bill of Rights. A disturbing and essential exposé that may be a catalyst for change. (Jan.)