The Employee Rights Handbook: Effective Legal Strategies to Protect Your Job From Interview to Pink Slip
Nationally known workplace attorney Steven Mitchell Sack gives you all the information you need to be properly hired, protect yourself on the job, and fight back if you are unfairly or illegally fired. He tells you what to do, what to ask for and insist on, and how to protect your rights in those areas where workers are frequently exploited.\ In clear language, this comprehensive book covers all steps in the employment process-from when you apply for a job until you are fired or resign:\ How...
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The Employee Rights Handbook, written by best selling author Steven Mitchell Sack, The Employee’s Lawyer®, is a comprehensive legal guide in simple English providing all the essential information workers need to protect themselves before, during, and after their jobs have ended. Attorney Sack’s comprehensive, up-to-the-minute book is a first-aid kit to understanding one’s job rights, giving you the information-and power to fight back, cut a deal if you are fired, and land firmly on your feet. The book advises how to be properly hired, steps to take if you resign or are fired, and how to enforce your on-the-job rights. Readers will learn how to anticipate and avoid common sticky situations during all stages in the employment process. Throughout, Sack offers practical advice by using valuable checklists, charts, agreements and easy to follow recommendations.Chapters are helpfully divided into relevant headings, making it easy to find information you are looking for. The book also contains a glossary, index, and numerous valuable demand letters to send to enforce your rights. Easy to use, practical, up to date, The Employee Rights Handbook provides all the essential information employees need to protect themselves and fight back whatever their job or industry. If you work for a living, you need this book. “A job is like a romance,” notes Sack. “Companies woo applicants with promises of security, fulfillment, riches. Then, when the honeymoon is over, even highly qualified people find themselves being treated unfairly. Many don’t receive promised benefits such as year-end bonuses, commissions, health insurance, vacation pay and overtime. Others are fired without cause or notice through no fault of their own. The Employee Rights Handbook was written exclusively for this purpose – for employees to protect themselves and their jobs against illegal action and receive equal footing with the boss.” New Woman Magazine Simply written and easy to digest, this book may save you some serious money in determining what your rights are in the workplace. If you feel you have been discriminated against, want to know what the grounds are for an illegal firing, or are unsure of what kind of lawyer to see if you are planning to sue, you should get a copy.
Author's Note xiiIntroduction: Why You Need This Book xiiiPart I How to Be Hired Properly 11 Avoiding Prehiring Abuses 3Illegal Advertisement and Brochures 3Employment Applications and Applicant Screening 4Illegal Questions at the Hiring Interview 6Unfair Job Requirements 15Disabled Applicants 15Immigration Checks 16Background Checks 18Applicant References 24Job Misrepresentation and Phony Employment Schemes 26Abuses by Employment Agencies, Search Firms, or Career Counselors 29Tips to Avoid Being Hired by a Deceitful Employer 342 Negotiating the Job 38Checklist of Key Negotiating Points to Cover During the Hiring Interview 39Other Matters of Concern 49Confirming These Points in Writing 53Turning an Oral Contract Into a Written Contract 56Part II How to Protect Your On-the-Job Rights 613 Employee Benefits 63Union Rights of Employees 63Part-Time Employees 68Leased and Temporary Employees 70Statutory Employees 72Employee Versus Independent Contractor Status 73Consultants 79Statutory Non-Employees 79Comparable Worth 80Failure To Pay Appropriate Compensation 81Tips 82Overtime Pay 83Wages 87Salary 89Vacation Pay 90Bonus 91Commissions 92Health Benefits 93AIDS and Medical Coverage 97COBRA Health Benefits 98ERISA Benefits 101Meals, Transportation and Related Benefits 106Tuition Assistance 106Working Hours 107Time Card Procedures 1084 Recognizing Employee on-the-Job Rights and Conduct 109Lie Detector Tests 109Access to Personnel Records 112Access to Credit Reports and Medical Records 115Employee Searches 117Employee Interrogations 121Wiretapping and Eavesdropping 122E-mail Messages, Blogging, and Related Subjects 125AIDS Testing 129Genetic Testing 131Drug and Alcohol Testing 132Marijuana Use 142Smoking in the Workplace 142Free Speech 147English-Only Rules 148Voting Rights 149Rights of Due Process 149Asserting Union Rights 150Off-Duty Conduct 150Legal Activities Off-Premises 151Personal Appearance Rules 153Office Romances 154No Solicitation or Distribution Rules 157Rest Room Visits 157Corporate Owned Life Insurance Policies 158Informants 158Workplace Safety 158Workers' Compensation Benefits 161Social Security Benefits 173Right to be Warned Before a Massive Layoff 183Employee Inventions and Suggestions 1905 All About Discrimination 196Federal and State Discrimination Laws 198Sex Discrimination 202Equal Pay 206Sexual Harassment 210Discrimination Against Gays and Lesbians 219Work-Related Stress 220Hazardous Jobs 221Pregnancy Discrimination 223Age Discrimination 233Race Discrimination 260Religious Discrimination 265Handicap Discrimination 270Retaliation Discrimination 277Strategies to Enforce Your Rights 282Part III How to Avoid Being Fired Unfairly and What to Do if You Are 2916 Recognizing when you Have Been Fired Illegally 295Statutory Restrictions 295Asserting Union Rights 298Fired for Serving in the Military 298Whistleblowing 301Implied Contract Exceptions 305Fired in Breach of Contract Rights 307Implied Covenants of Good Faith and Fair Dealing 308Firing Due to a Legitimate Illness or Absence 309Written Promises of Job Security in Contracts 311Oral Promises of Job Security 312Written Promises of Job Security in Company Manuals 314Personnel Records 315Refusals to Pay Expected Financial Benefits 316Offers of Severance Pay 318Reliance on Hiring Promises 320Issues for Older Workers 320Recognize the Warning Signs 322Take it in Stride 3387 Facing The Music and Taking Charge 340Learning Why You Were Fired 341How to Properly Handle the News 344Stay Calm 347Always Ask for More 349Stay On at a Lower Pay and Grade 352Appeal to Decency and Fair Play 353Negotiating Strategies to Achieve Maximum Compensation 354Protecting the Severance Arrangement 3738 Post-Termination Issues 395Unemployment Hearings 395Resigning Properly 401Restrictive Covenants, Trade Secrets, and Gag Orders 408Defamation Lawsuits 433Rights of Departing Employees 444Part IV Collecting Your Due 4499 Employment Litigation and Alternatives 451Litigation 452Court 453Damages 457Starting an Action 459Discovery 464Jury Selection 473Opening Arguments 481Trying the Case 484Closing Arguments 495Appeals 497Pro Se Representation 508Class Action Lawsuits 514Administrative Agency Hearings 517Mediation 520Arbitration 525Small-Claims Court 535Benefits-Related Lawsuits 543Breach of Contract Litigation 54410 Hiring a Lawyer to Protect Your Rights 557When You Need a Lawyer 558How to Find a Lawyer 558The Initial Interview 562Confirming the Arrangement 568Resolving Problems After the Lawyer is Hired 582Conclusion 595Glossary 597Index 609About the Author 621
\ New York TimesSack looks seemingly everywhere job discrimination might lurk and where special accommodations, if any, sbould be made.\ \ \ \ \ Nashville TennesseanSack's excellent book covers employment rights ranging from the initial interview to negotiating a termination. People who plan ahead will know how to negotiate and get more employment benefits.\ \ \ The Employee Rights Handbook may very well be the authoritative text on the pitfalls of being an employee. Sack has managed to take all of this detailed, complicated, and relatively dry information and make it very readable and interesting. The book is well worth the money regardless of your occupation and locale.\ \ \ \ \ Sack offers tips that all workers should use to empower themselves. If there's one message driving Sack through his work, it's know your rights.\ \ \ \ \ Simply written and easy to digest, this book may save you some serious money in determining what your rights are in the workplace. If you feel you have been discriminated against, want to know what the grounds are for an illegal firing, or are unsure of what kind of lawyer to see if you are planning to sue, you should get a copy.\ \ \ \ \ Sack, author of 11 other legal titles (e.g., The Lifetime Legal Guide), has revised and expanded his previous, 2000 edition of The Employee Rights Handbook. Once again taking a linear path, Sack advises readers on topics from avoiding prehiring abuses and protecting on-the-job rights through postemployment litigation and finding and hiring a lawyer. His writing style is accessible, though real-life examples are insulated from reality by privacy considerations. Readers looking for a quick answer generally will be rewarded. There's an abundance of sample documents (helpfully listed in a secondary table of contents) and a glossary. The "Directory of Resources" from previous editions is absent here, probably a wise choice in a climate of high-speed change. VERDICT Readers looking for an all-in-one employee legal primer or layperson's quick reference should find this a useful tool.—Brian Walton, Tampa-Hillsborough Cty. P.L., FL\ \
