Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace [Hardcover]

Lewis Maltby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2009

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.

Editorial Reviews

From 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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Can They Do That? is the question I asked again and again while working in low-wage jobs for my book Nickel and Dimed, and Lewis Maltby is the person I eventually turned to for answers. His new book brilliantly lays out the bitter truth: that the American workplace is a dictatorship where workers have few, if any, rights. Fortunately, it also contains some excellent ideas on how to fight for human rights at work."
-Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed

"Lew Maltby has written a very important book about a subject that has not received nearly the attention it deserves. Congress needs to do more to protect the rights of the American worker. This book can provide a road map."
-Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ)

"Can They Do That? tells Americans the sad truth that their constitutional rights disappear when they go to work and what we must do to end this injustice."
-Nadine Strossen, former president, ACLU; professor of law, New York Law School

"An important book from a tireless champion of workplace human rights."
-Paul S. Miller, former president, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; director, Disability Studies Program, and Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law, University of Washington School of Law

"This is a cogent and compelling look at the issues involved as well as a guide to the principles and practices that would make America more authentically and richly democratic. It should be read and debated by legislators, journalists, academics and the broad public alike."
-Richard S. Parker, president, Americans for Democratic Action "With hard-hitting prose and vivid true-life examples, Lewis Maltby lashes out at employer violations of what most workers assume are their inalienable rights...Existing law doesn't prevent employers from firing employees for expressing a political opinion in a personal blog, spying on them in company restrooms, or refusing to hire them because they failed a defective drug test, credit check, or personality profile."
-Theodore J. St. Antoine, Degan Professor Emeritus of Law and former dean, University of Michigan Law School

"Can They Do That? gives Americans important information they need to know about their rights in the workplace. In clear language, Lewis Maltby unravels the sometimes confusing web of laws and regulations that help shape what happens to employees in America."
-Fred Feinstein, former general counsel, National Labor Relations Board

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (December 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591842824
• ISBN-13: 978-1591842828
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #803,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I had NO idea!, March 2, 2010

By 

David Gray - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace (Hardcover)

"Most people think they have legal rights [in the workplace] that, in fact, are completely nonexistent." This quote from page 217 pretty much sums up why you need to read this book.
While rank and file employees need to know just how powerless they truly are, this should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in labor issues. To give just one example of the great breadth of the information contained here, the history of the concept of "at will" employment is enough to make you cringe. You may think this is some historic concept that came down to us from some anlgo historical precedent... but you would be wrong and amazed by the reality. Maltby does an excellent job of explaining the legal issues in layman's terms and also shows the real and specific impact of the legal situation with true-life examples that are at turns horrifying, enlightening and some that are almost ludicrous if not for the seriousness of the outcomes. Maltby also does an admirable job of explaining issues from both the employee's point of view and the employer's. Though as Director of the National Workrights Institute and a former ACLU attorney his sympathies are clear. But if you ever worked for someone else or ever plan to, you need to read this book. If you are horrified enough to want to take action he tells you how to do that too.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holy Invasion of the Global Labor Snatchers Batmam!/ Biometrics, digital fingerprinting, DNA, RFID implants, February 19, 2010

By 

R. A. Barricklow "Scaramouche" (Las Vegas NV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace (Hardcover)

When letters to the editor, signs on the lawn, bumper stickers, or your blog can get you fired/...democracy suffers when people can't express their thoughts out of fear of retaliation, too say the least of the whistleblowers that were fired for saving lives or attempting to.
There are now millions of people around the world viewing innocent Americans taking off their clothes in locker rooms or going to the bathroom. Privacy has been digitized in the work place, stores, and places you would't want to know about.
The Supreme Court found out that court adminstrators were secretly monitoring the computers of EVERYONE in the federal court system, including themselves, the supremes, and even when they traveled w/their laptops, and even though it was entirely legal by their very own rulings. Of course they put an immediate stop on the the supremes music that was being played. A case of supreme denial in the classic case of: do as I say, not as I do.
If you are logged onto your company computer from your home, your computer is now part of their network and will be searched just like all the others.
These and many other news flashes are just the tip of the iceberg in this superb analysis of the workplace, encompassing an ever widening infuence & confluence of interests and parameters. Even in the hot lingerie business where a company began selling bras with tiny hidden GPS transmitters, probably for men looking for which direction their relationship was going.
Retinal scanning can now reveal whether a person has diabetes, is pregnant, has high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, AIDs, etc.
Identity thieves can now capture biometric identification. They can transmit digital representations electronically to anyone anywhere to allow remote authorization or turn it into a replica, like a digital fingerprint, they can use at your ATM or elsewhere. Thay can access it through your workplace or anywhere it is on the internet, even the sequencing of your DNA. Yes, your family jewels are not as safe as you assume, as everytime you use a hairbrush, a tissue, or toothbrush you leave behind a few of your tell-tale cells. Analyzing this abandoned DNA has become a growth rich industry.
Employers are beginning to install silicon chips into employees bodies as an identification system. Consent or lose your job.

Your in for an awakening treat as you tread through these pages as I have. You'll emerge with an education to these "interesting times" in the work place and ...beyond.
It is very informative, important, and entertaining.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!!!!!

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every employee should read this book., January 23, 2010

By 

BVH - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace (Hardcover)

We spend so many hours of our life as employees. This is the first book I've read that has written about complicated issues in such a way that any employee could understand. It contains an abundance of helpful information for employees regarding their legal rights, from the future of genetic testing and how it might affect hiring decisions to the down and dirty on privacy expectations in the workplace. Can employers really put video cameras in bathrooms? A must read for any employee.