Speechless : the erosion of free expression in the American workplace / Bruce Barry.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-275) and index.

Introduction: speechless at work in America -- When work and speech collide -- Constitutional rights in public and private -- Unemployment at will -- Public employee speech -- A chill in the private sector -- Why free speech works -- Civil rights and wrongs -- Speech in the digital age -- Managing expression inside the workplace -- Conclusion: the case for freer expression.

"A factory worker is fired because her boss dislikes the political bumper sticker on her car in the parking lot. Another is canned after refusing to display an American flag at his workstation. A flight attendant is grounded because her airline doesn't like what she's writing in her personal blog. Is it legal to fire people for expressing themselves, even when it's unrelated to performing their jobs? Can you lose your job because of a bumper sticker? For many American workers, the answer is yes. In "Speechless," Bruce Barry confronts the state of free speech in the American workplace. He shows how employers and courts are eroding workers' abilities to express themselves on and off the job, with damaging consequences for individuals, their employers, and civil society as a whole. In defense of free speech in and around the workplace, Barry argues that the experience of liberty in a free society, as well as in life, in general, depends in part on the experience of liberty at work."--Publisher description.

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.