The Employee Rights Handbook by Steven Mitchell Sack

Steven Mitchell Sack is called the employee’s attorney for a reason. Its mission is to protect the rights of employees, and it has been enforcing the labor rights of employees, executives and sales representatives for more than thirty years. With his book “The Employee Rights Handbook: Effective Legal Strategies to Protect Your Job From Interview to Pink Slip”, he has created an excellent resource for employees, providing the information to understand labor rights and to protect themselves and assert themselves to collect what they must be. If you’re wondering about your rights at work, this book has the answers.

First of all, this is not a quick little guide, but rather a complete tombstone covering many areas of employment law. The book has just under six hundred pages before the glossary and index which push it past the six hundred page mark. However, despite its length, this book is written in easy-to-understand language and is full of practical advice. Unfortunately, the law is always changing, so things in any law book can get out of date. The revised and expanded third edition came out in 2010, so it is currently up to date. This is the edition that I am reviewing.

The book is well organized and contains a detailed table of contents, as well as a list of the agreements, forms, sample letters, and complete checklists that are included in the book. And these items are extremely valuable to the person who wants to use them. Many of the lyrics need little modification to make them work for many people.

The first part of the book focuses on how to get hired properly and contains chapters on avoiding pre-hiring abuse and negotiating the job. The second part deals with how to protect your rights at work and has chapters on employee benefits, recognition of employee rights and conduct at work, and all about discrimination. The focus of the third part is how to avoid being unfairly fired and what to do if you are, and provides chapters on how to recognize when you have been illegally fired, dealing with music and taking charge, and post-firing problems. The final part, the fourth part, is about collecting your debt. The two chapters focus on employment and alternative litigation and hiring an attorney to protect your rights.

Again, this is an extensive book with a lot of information. Unless you want to be an expert on employee rights, you will most likely read the sections that are most relevant to your circumstances. So if you need information about your rights as an employee, this highly authoritative text is a great reference to refer to. Sack has made complicated information readable and has made understanding your employment rights accessible to everyone.