Your (non) rights as a worker by SignyM

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Your (non) rights as a worker

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 7, 2012 07:57
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Monday, February 6, 2012 9:09 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Myth: It's illegal for an interviewer to ask about your religion, national origin, marital status, number of children, etc.
Fact: In most states, the act of asking these questions itself is not illegal. What is illegal is basing a hiring decision on the answers to these questions. So since an employer can't factor in your answers, there's no point in asking them, and smart interviewers don't go near these topics. (Note that it is illegal to ask about disabilities, however.)

Myth: It's illegal for employers to provide a detailed reference, or any information beyond confirming job title and dates of employment.
Fact: It's legal for an employer to give a detailed reference, including negative information, as long as it's factually accurate. That said, some companies do have policies against giving references, but these policies are easily worked around; most reference-checkers don't have difficulties obtaining references, no matter what the official policies say.

Myth: If your boss bullies you, you can sue under "hostile workplace" laws.
Fact: Bullying or being a jerk is bad management, but it's not illegal. The exception: If your boss is being a jerk to you because of your race, gender, religion, or other protected class, then you do have legal protection. But 99 percent of jerky bosses act like jerks just because they are, and that is legal.

Myth: Employers are required to provide paid time off.
Fact: No state or federal law requires paid vacation time. A very small number of jurisdictions require paid sick leave, but the majority of Americans live in places not covered by those laws.

Myth: Your employer can't just reassign you to different duties or to a whole new job.
Fact: Unless you have a contract that says otherwise, your employer can change your job dramatically, including restructuring it completely. Saying "no" may mean saying no to working at the company.

Myth: An employer can't require you to attend work-related events outside of regular work hours.
Fact: You can indeed be required to attend events outside of your normal hours, including trainings, meetings, and even parties. However, if you're a non-exempt employee, then you must be paid for time you're required to participate in work-related activities.

Myth: Employers must provide you with breaks during the workday.
Fact: No federal law requires that workers receive lunch or other breaks. Some states require breaks, but most do not.

Myth: You can sue if your boss makes an offensive or discriminatory remark to you.
Fact: One remark on its own isn't enough for a discrimination lawsuit. Instead, a suit requires offensive conduct so severe that it alters the terms of your employment.

Myth: Your employer must warn you before you're fired.
Fact: No law requires employees receive warning before being fired. In fact, your boss can tell you that you're doing a great job every day for 300 days straight and then fire you on day 301 without any warning at all.

Myth: Your boss must have a justifiable reason for firing you.
Fact: Your employer can fire you for any reason at all or for no reason, as long as you're not being fired because of your membership in a legally protected class (race, religion, nationality, sex, marital status, disability, and so forth). You can even be fired because your boss doesn't like your laugh or the color of your shirt.
There are two exceptions: one, if you have a contract, which most people in the United States do not; or two, if your company has an employee manual that commits to always using specific disciplinary procedures before firing someone. In the later case, your company is generally obligated to follow those procedures first.

http://news.yahoo.com/10-shattered-myths-workplace-rights-154531786.ht
ml
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ALSO,

There is no workplace right to privacy. Anything you do on company equipment and company time is theirs to inspect. In fact, there is no CUSTOMER privacy. Businesses are free to collect- and keep- any and all information they choose. Google, for example, has now publicly stated that they will collect as much information as they can about you, from any application or service possible... including accessing google on your web browser (IP address, cookies, OS, search contents etc.) However, companies often claim... AND GET... a "right to privacy", which bars people from videoing or otherwise making public "company business"... even illegal practices are protected.

There is no workplace free-speech rights. All of those laws about free speech? They are there merely to protect you from GOVERNMENT, not from businesses. In fact, if you say something online or in public on YOUR time, even anonymously, and the company finds out it was you, they can fire you. This is now being tested in court.

If a company fails to pay you your full wage, that is a lesser crime than if you pilfer pens from the supplies cabinet. Stealing from you as an individual may be a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the amount, but stealing from a corporation is ALWAYS a felony no matter how small the amount.

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Whatever rights you have are due to unions.

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Monday, February 6, 2012 11:47 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Depressing, isn't it, what people believe is true and the actual facts. I'd add:

Myth: Your employer can't discriminate against you because you're disabled.
Fact: They can do so in hiring or any form of employment, as long as they can find some other kind of valid excuse for doing so.

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Monday, February 6, 2012 12:58 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

What I find rather silly are right-wingers who insist that the government forces industry to "coddle" workers. And they cry about those "poor" businesses being saddled with unreasonable rules, and that this will all be fixed by busting unions. As if.

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Monday, February 6, 2012 3:38 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Interesting points, about the firing one I already knew that because I've seen it happen at work, someone getting fired and having no idea it was coming.

And you can't discriminate because of disability? Yeah right, welcome to reality, no one follows those laws in the real world, they're just on paper to look pretty. About breaks, I believe we have state mandated rules about that in OR, because most companies, even for volunteers, will mention when your break times are. Where I work now though we don't have official break times which I actually like because I'd rather just chill between calls and not have a designated breaktime, I can eat and work at the same time and since my work is mainly based on what callers need I want to be available to talk to them, unless I'm in a meeting or something else important.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012 5:34 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Myth: It's illegal for employers to provide a detailed reference, or any information beyond confirming job title and dates of employment.
Fact: It's legal for an employer to give a detailed reference, including negative information, as long as it's factually accurate. That said, some companies do have policies against giving references, but these policies are easily worked around; most reference-checkers don't have difficulties obtaining references, no matter what the official policies say.

When you're looking for someone to do work in your home, say a plumber or carpenter, do you check on-line reviews or the BBB, or ask a neighbor who they've used that they're happy with?

How unfair of you.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012 5:46 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

" I do the job, and I get paid. "

Don't like your job? Don't sign up for it. Go do something else.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012 7:57 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
There are two exceptions: one, if you have a contract, which most people in the United States do not...

Which is one reason I am so rabid about having a contract, and in defense of its terms.

And it wasn't just Unions, it was those dirty-evil commie socialists and their anarchist buddies, too.

Ironic that the very folk most people have been trained to hate and fear, are those most responsible for the few pathetic and mostly ignored rights they have - those rights were not gifted down upon the masses by the overlords of the corporations, they were bought with buckets of blood by folks like me, and my ancestors, torn from the very teeth of the machine with fire and steel, not from the corporate goons, but all too often their US Government allies, making it very damn clear which "side" the Government is, and has always been, on - and it AIN'T yours.

Quote:
“There are two great powers, and they’ve been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit.”

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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