A security contractor lawfully could silence a worker’s union representatives during an investigative interview and control when the representatives could speak. The manager who conducted the investigative interview quieted everyone – both management and union officials alike, in a seven-person meeting that had become unruly. The company’s steps to control a meeting did not violate…

Union employees have Weingarten rights which allow them to have a union representative accompany them to meetings with management that could result in discipline. An employee’s Weingarten rights, however, do have limits. A recent case involved the time-critical element of drug and alcohol testing. In Fred Meyer Stores, Inc., a cashier was suspected of drinking alcohol on the job…

Many employers (and this management-side labor lawyer in particular) were surprised by the Obama Board’s inability to overturn IBM Corp., 341 NLRB 1288 (2004), and extend Weingarten rights to non-union employees. The Obama Board, nevertheless, expanded the scope of Weingarten rights in a few areas. Manhattan Beer: The Obama Board ruled that a beer distributor…

An employee’s Weingarten rights is something that everyone dealing with a unionized workforce is familiar with. Perhaps you didn’t know the name, but you know that union employees are entitled to have a representative present during compulsory, investigatory interviews that may lead to discipline. Weingarten rights only apply to union employees. This is black letter…

The National Labor Relations Board held that an employer did not violate a union worker’s rights during a police investigation of the worker’s gun violence threat by not providing the worker with a union representative because the investigation was conducted by the police, not the company. Here’s the back story: An EMT learned that the…

A hospital informed two nurses that a peer review committee had reviewed cases in which they may have “exhibited unprofessional conduct.” The employees’ request for union representation at follow-up meetings was denied. If those follow-up meetings determined that unprofessional conduct occurred, the hospital was required, by state statute, to report such conduct to the state…