Weingarten Rules
RULE 1: The employee must make a clear request for union representation before or during the interview. The employee cannot be punished for making this request.
RULE 2: After the employee makes the request, the employer must choose from among three options. The employer must either:
- Grant the request and delay questioning until the union representative arrives and has a chance to consult privately with the employee; or
- Deny the request and end the interview immediately; or
- Give the employee a choice of (1) having the interview without representation or (2) ending the interview.
One of the most vital functions of your Union Executive Board Member is to prevent management from intimidating employees. Nowhere is this more important than in closed-door meetings when managers attempt to coerce employees into confessing to wrongdoing.
You may be familiar with the “Miranda Warnings (Rights)” given by law enforcement agents. The “Miranda Warnings” notify criminal suspects to their rights, including the right to a lawyer and to remain silent. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not impose a notice requirement in its Weingarten decision. Employers have no obligation to inform workers of their right to request union representation.
The rights of employees, to the presence of union representatives, during interviews were announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975 during a National Labor Relation Board hearing NLRB vs. J. Weingarten, Inc.). Since that case involved a clerk being investigated by the Weingarten Company. These rights have become known as the Weingarten Rights.
Employees in Public Transit are often involved in investigatory interviews with their supervisors. If these employees have a reasonable belief that discipline or other adverse consequences may result from what he or she may say, they have a right to request the presence of a Union Representative.
Investigatory interviews usually relate to subjects such as absenteeism, customer complaints, accident, and damage to company property, alcohol and drug use, falsification of records, theft, insubordination, lateness/misses, and violations of safety rules.
Public Transit employees should be aware of their Weingarten Rights.
The presence of an Executive Board Member can help in several ways; such as: The steward (Executive Board Member) can help a fearful or inarticulate employee explain what happened.
- The steward (Executive Board Member) can raise extenuating factors.
- The steward (Executive Board Member) can advise an employee against blindly denying everything, thereby giving the appearance of dishonesty and guilt.
- The steward (Executive Board Member) can help prevent an employee from making fatal admissions.
- The steward (Executive Board Member) can stop an employee from losing his or her temper, and getting fired for insubordination.
- The steward (Executive Board Member) can serve as a witness to prevent supervisors from giving a false account of the conversations.
