Employers are, therefore, free to do whatever they wish to their employees as long as they do so in a non-discriminatory manner. A few other federal and state laws provide some protection against specific abuses, such as urine testing, polygraph testing and retaliation against whistle blowers. But these laws are extremely limited. The fundamental human rights of free expression, privacy and due process are still largely unprotected in the American workplace. These employees are considered to have a property interest in their jobs, and the right to due process places significant restrictions on arbitrary dismissals unrelated to job performance.
Some additional protection is provided by federal, state and local civil service laws.
Virtually all collective bargaining agreements between labor unions and employers stipulate that unionized employees can be fired only for just cause, and only after a hearing before a neutral arbitrator. However, less than 20 percent of American workers belong to unions today, since union membership has been declining for years. Over the years, the many attempts made to challenge employment at-will in the courts have produced a few narrow exceptions to the rule, but these exceptions have helped very few of the people unjustly fired from their jobs. In general, a government employer cannot search the person or belongings of an employee in the absence of any suspicion that the particular employee has done something illegal. Private sector employees, on the other hand, have virtually no protection against even the most intrusive practices.