Speechless

“Exposes the shameful fact that most Americans are forced to check their civil liberties—and especially their freedom of speech—at the workplace door.” —Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times-bestselling author

A factory worker is fired because her boss disagrees with her political bumper sticker. A stockbroker feels pressure to resign from an employer who disapproves of his off-hours political advocacy. 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 speech that makes employers uncomfortable, even if the content has little or nothing to do with their job or workplace? For most American workers, the alarming answer is yes.

In Speechless, Bruce Barry argues that a toxic combination of law, conventional economic wisdom, and accepted managerial practice has created an American workplace in which freedom of speech—that most crucial of civil liberties in a healthy democracy—is something you do after work, on your own time, and even then (for many), only if your employer approves. Barry proposes changes both to the law and to management practice that would expand employees’ expressive rights without jeopardizing the legitimate interests of employers.

In defense of freer speech in and around the workplace, Barry argues that a healthy democracy depends in part on the experience of liberty at work. Workplaces are key venues for shared experience and public discourse, so workplace speech rights matter deeply for advancing citizenship, community, and democracy in a free society.

“Eye-opening for anyone who has a job. Big Brother isn’t just a figment of the imagination.” —Foreword Reviews