These books are essential for managers, HR professionals and employees who want to know their rights and stop costly lawsuits. Click on the book titles to purchase from Amazon.com.

• Affirmative Action: A Reference Handbook
  by Lynne Eisaguirre (ABC-Clio Inc.)
  
  
• Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right
  by Joseph L., Jr. Badaracco (Harvard Business School Press)
  
  
• Fair, Square & Legal: Safe Hiring, Managing & Firing Practices to Keep You & Your Company Out of Court
  by Donald H. Weiss (AMACOM)
  Safe hiring, managing and firing practices with a heavy reliance on the legal perspective, yet still easy to read.
  
  
• Gay Issues in the Workplace
  by Brian McNaught (St. Martin's Press)
  A brief, easy to read and funny overview from a legal, business and personal perspective. I read it on a round-trip plane ride, and both times my seatmates saw the title and shrank away into their seats.
  
  
• How to Say It For Women: Communicating With Confidence and Power Using Language of Success
  by Phyllis Mindell (Penguin Putnam)
  

• Implementing Diversity
  by Marilyn Loden (McGraw Hill)
  
  
• The Lie Detection Book (currently unavailable from amazon.com, but may be ordered from Out of Print)
  by William J. Majeski with Ralph Butler (Ballantine)
  If you have to do investigations of anything from sexual harassment to squabbles between your kids, this is a very useful book. It also is a great read, especially for those of you who like crime novels, because it is peppered with stories from the author's experience as a New York City police detective.
  
  
• Love & Profit: The Art of Caring Leadership
  by James A. Autry (Morrow)
  A good introduction to how personal ethics can lead to business success.
  
  
• Making Diversity Work
  by Sondra Thiederman (Dearborn Trade)
  
  
• Managing Einsteins: Leading High-Tech Workers in the Digital Age
  by John M. Ivancevich, Thomas N. Duening (McGraw Hill)
  
  
• Managing by Values
  by Ken Blanchard and Michael O'Connor (Berrett Koehler)
  A "One-Minute Manager" parable approach to values-based management.
  
  
• A Manager's Guide to Employee Privacy
  by Kurt H. Decker (Wiley)
  Far more than most managers and HR people need to know about privacy aspects of hiring, firing, drugs, smoking and AIDS, but an excellent resource for those who need the information.
  
  
• Moral Courage: Taking Action When Your Values Are Put to the Test
  by Rushworth M. Kidder (William Morrow)
  
  
• The Art of Happiness at Work
  by The Dalai Lama, Howard C. Cutler (Riverhead)
  
  
• The Employer's Legal Handbook
  by Attorneys Fred S. Steingold and Amy Delpo (NOLO)
  
  
• The Manager's Legal Handbook
  by Attorneys Lisa Guerin and Amy Delpo (NOLO)
  
  
• The Power of Ethical Managment
  by Ken Blanchard and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (William Morrow)

• The Power of a Good Fight: How to Embrace Conflict to Drive Productivity, Creativity and Innovation
  by Lynne Eisaguirre (Alpha)
  Conflicts arise even in the best places to work. This book presents real-life solutions for those who want to handle conflict in the most effective manner.
  
  
• Principle-Centered Leadership
  by Steven Covey (Free Press) (also available as audio tapes)
  
  
• Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby
  by Stephen L. Carter (Basic Books)
  A thoughtful analysis of the costs and benefits of affirmative action from a Yale law professor.
  
  
• Rightful Termination: Defensive Strategies for Hiring and Firing in the Lawsuit-Happy 90's
  by James Walsh (Merritt)
  50 pages of forms and checklists make this a very useful book for managers and HR staff covering hiring, managing and firing employees, avoiding workers compensation, handling pensions and stock plans. Some legal advice, but mostly practical information.
  
  
• Risky Business: Protect Your Business from Being Stalked, Conned or Blackmailed on the Web
  by Dan Janal (John Wiley and Sons)
  This book has some excellent advice on computer security issues, including sample Internet access policies.
  
  
• Sexual Harassment: A Reference Handbook
  by Lynne Eisaguirre (ABC-Clio Inc)
  

• Straight Jobs - Gay Lives
  by Sharon Silverstein (Fireside)
  
  
• Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work
  by Deborah Tannen, Ph.D. (Morrow)
  An entertaining look at linguistic research with practical applications for work.
  
  
• The Diversity Toolkit
  by William Sonnenschein (McGraw Hill)
  
  
• Your Rights in the Workplace, 7th Ed
  by Barbara Kate Repa, Marcia Stewart (Editor) (NOLO)
  NOLO Press is renown for it's practical books, and this one is excellent. With this information you can enforce your rights, without a lawyer.