Union Rights for Non-Union Employees?

A divided National Labor Relations Board recently held that the National Labor Relations Act applies to non-union em­ployees - not just those workers at unionized companies.

In a split 3-2 decision, the NLRB ruled that Weingarten rights, which came about in 1975, now extend to all non-union employees as well as union member employees.

Weingarten gives a unionized employee the right to request representation if the employee suspects that he/she is being called into a meeting with management which could lead to discipline or discharge. Once that employee says he does not want the meeting without his union representative present, the employer cannot legally proceed with that investigatory/disciplinary meeting.

In this case, which applies to all employers in the United States, union and non-union, the Executive Director of the Epilepsy Foundation attempted to call in an employee, who had written a critical memorandum to one of the Foun­dation's supervisors, for a meeting. The employee who was "afraid" requested that a fellow employee be there in the meeting with him. His request was refused, and the employee refused to meet alone with the President. He was fired the next day for gross insubordination, based on his refusal to meet to discuss the memorandum.  

Overruling the last 12 years of decisions that held Finding Labor Ready's Solicitation Rule that Weingarten rights only apply to unionized employees, the current NLRB panel concluded that the NLRA applies not only to union employees but also to all employees in any set­ting when they are concerned about their mutual protection of the terms and conditions o/ employment.

 Notes From The Front 

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