Includes index.

Author's note -- Introduction: Why you need this book -- Part 1: How To Be Hired Properly: -- 1: Avoiding prehiring abuses -- Illegal advertisement and brochures -- Employment applications and applicant screening -- Illegal questions at the hiring interview -- Unfair job requirements -- Disabled applicants -- Immigration checks -- Background checks -- Applicant references -- Job misrepresentation and phony employment schemes -- Abuses by employment agencies, search firms, or career counselors -- Tips to avoid being hired by a deceitful employer -- 2: Negotiating the job -- Checklist of key negotiating points to cover during the hiring interview -- Other matters of concern -- Confirming these points in writing -- Turning an oral contract into a written contract -- Part 2: How To Protect Your On-The-Job Rights: -- 3: Employee benefits -- Union rights of employees -- Part-time employees -- Leased and temporary employees -- Statutory employees -- Employee versus independent contractor status -- Consultants -- Statutory non-employees -- Comparable worth -- Failure to pay appropriate compensation -- Tips -- Overtime pay -- Wages -- Salary -- Vacation pay -- Bonus -- Commissions -- Health benefits -- AIDS and medical coverage -- COBRA health benefits -- ERISA benefits -- Meals, transportation and related benefits -- Tuition assistance -- Working hours -- Time card procedures -- 4: Recognizing employee on-the-job rights and conduct -- Lie detector tests -- Access to personnel records -- Access to credit reports and medical records -- Employee searches -- Employee interrogations -- Wiretapping and eavesdropping -- E-mail messages, blogging, and related subjects -- AIDS testing -- Genetic testing -- Drug and alcohol testing -- Marijuana use -- Smoking in the workplace -- Free speech -- English-only rules -- Voting rights -- Rights of due process -- Asserting union rights -- Off-duty conduct -- Legal activities off-premises -- Personal appearance rules -- Office romances -- No solicitation or distribution rules -- Rest room visits -- Corporate owned life insurance policies -- Informants -- Workplace safety -- Workers' compensation benefits -- Social Security benefits -- Right to be warned before a massive layoff -- Employee inventions and suggestions -- 5: All about discrimination -- Federal and State discrimination laws -- Sex discrimination -- Equal pay -- Sexual harassment -- Discrimination against gays and lesbians -- Work-related stress -- Hazardous jobs -- Pregnancy discrimination -- Age discrimination -- Race discrimination -- Religious discrimination -- Handicap discrimination -- Retaliation discrimination -- Strategies to enforce your rights --

Part 3: How To Avoid Being Fired Unfairly And What To Do If You Are: -- 6: Recognizing when you have been fired illegally -- Statutory restrictions -- Asserting union rights -- Fired for serving in the military -- Whistleblowing -- Implied contract exceptions -- Fired in breach of contract rights -- Implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing -- Firing due to a legitimate illness or absence -- Written promises of job security in contracts -- Oral promises of job security -- Written promises of job security in company manuals -- Personnel records -- Refusals to pay expected financial benefits -- Offers of severance pay -- Reliance on hiring promises -- Issues for older workers -- Recognize the warning signs -- Take it in stride -- 7: Facing The Music And Taking Charge -- Learning why you were fired -- How to properly handle the news -- Stay calm -- Always ask for more -- Stay on at a lower pay and grade -- Appeal to decency and fair play -- Negotiating strategies to achieve maximum compensation -- Protecting the severance arrangement -- 8: Post-termination issues -- Unemployment hearings -- Resigning properly -- Restrictive covenants, trade secrets, and gag orders -- Defamation lawsuits -- Rights of departing employees -- Part 4: Collecting Your Due: -- 9: Employment litigation and alternatives -- Litigation -- Court -- Damages -- Starting an action -- Discovery -- Jury selection -- Opening arguments -- Trying the case -- Closing arguments -- Appeals -- Pro se representation -- Class action lawsuits -- Administrative agency hearings -- Mediation -- Arbitration -- Small-claims court -- Benefits-related lawsuits -- Breach of contract litigation -- 10: Hiring a lawyer to protect your rights -- When you need a lawyer -- How to find a lawyer -- Initial interview -- Confirming the arrangement -- Resolving problems after the lawyer is hired -- Conclusion -- Glossary -- Index -- About the author.

The Employee Rights Handbook, written by bestselling 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."