Weingarten rights

Weingarten rights

Introduction

In 1975, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of NLRB vs. Weingarten .Inc that an employee has a right to union representation in a disciplinary interview. These rights are protected by the national labor relations Act and any violations by the employers should be communicated to the National Labor relations Board (Guerin, 2010).

Where Weingarten rights apply

Weingarten rights apply when the employee is subjected to an investigatory interview. These interviews may be meant to get the employees side of the story, question an employee’s conduct thus forcing him or her to defend himself or herself (Twomey, 2012). When employee believes that some consequences may arise from these interviews, the Weingarten rights compels him or her to as for union representation.

However, these rights do not apply where the purpose of the meeting is to convey information, delegate duties, issue training and also when informing an employee of a disciplinary decision that has already been taken against him or her (Guerin, 2010)..

Upon request for Union representation, the management has the following options: it can halt the questioning until the union representative arrives, it can call off the interview or it can assure the employee of calling off the interview unless the employee cancels the request for union representation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Weingarten rights give a just hearing to the employees in investigatory interviews hence preventing harassment by the employers. They apply when an employee is subjected to an interview that may result to victimization and disciplinary actions. However, these rights do not apply to when the purpose of the meeting has no disciplinary actions. Therefore, the implementation of these rights was a great step in ensuring the comfort ability of employees at their work place.

References

Guerin, L. (2010) Essential guide to work place investigations: How to handle employee complaints & problems. Berkeley: NOLO publishers. Print

Twomey, D. (2012) Labor and Employment Law: Text and Cases. Belmont: Cengage learning publishers. Print