Unionized or Not, Employees Have Important Rights

By: Randy Dotinga Editor's note: This is the first in a series of columns about employee rights in the workplace.

Sometimes it seems that workplace rights are an oxymoron. Freedom of speech? Call your boss a jerk and watch what happens. Freedom of expression? See how quickly you're shown the door if you show up on the job wearing hot pants.

But even if there's no union contract in sight, federal law doesn't leave employees unprotected. "Workers usually have a huge number of rights that they don't realize they have," said Charles Craver, professor at The George Washington University Law School. But many aren't publicized and lurk unnoticed in obscure labor codes.

Here are three major employee rights that you may know nothing about:

1. The right to not face discipline alone: Your boss points at you, then at the conference room. It's time for a chit-chat, but nobody's going to be discussing the weather: You're in trouble. If things are really bad, another boss waits in the conference room, and maybe even the human relations director too.

What to do? Grab a co-worker and face the music with a friend on hand. You have that right, according to an interpretation of labor law approved by a divided National Labor Relations Board in 2000.

If supervisors are going to discipline someone, "they usually gang up on the employee two-to-one. This evens the playing field," said Lisa Klerman, an employment law attorney with Morrison and Foerster in Los Angeles.

The roots of the so-called Weingarten rights lie in employee unions, which typically allow a union steward to accompany employees when they are disciplined. "The main reason to is to have some moral support and make sure the employer doesn't interrogate the person in an overbearing manner," said Craver, the law professor. "Many people are scared to death at that point and don't know what their rights are."

In many cases, of course, a friendly co-worker may have little to do except sit there while an employee gets chewed out. But the mere presence of a friendly person can boost morale by providing someone "to hold your hand through what may be a difficult process," Klerman said.

And if your boss refuses to go along? You can file a federal labor complaint, and your employer could be liable for back pay if you're fired.

2. The right to not join an employee union: Not surprisingly, the best way to gain new protections at work is to create an employee union and negotiate a contract with important rights spelled out in print. Newspaper contracts, for example, often outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, a right not found in federal law.

But union membership isn't mandatory. "People don't realize if they have a union, they don't have to join the union," Craver said. "You only have to pay the initiation fees and the monthly dues. You never have to actually join."

The right of freedom of association allows workers to benefit from union contracts without direct membership, he said. "Some people just don't like unions. Some have religious or philosophical beliefs, and for them it's very important. They don't want to join this association and swear allegiance," he said.

Employees may have other reasons to resist joining a union. "You're subject to union discipline and may be fined if you go to work during a strike," Craver said. "If you violate other union rules, they can discipline you. If you only pay your dues and don't formally join, they have no disciplinary power over you."

There's no law, of course, against bad feelings from your co-workers who are union members. Depending on the atmosphere at the workplace, those who exercise this right may find themselves unlikely to win any popularity contests.

3. The right to discuss your salary with others: At some newspapers, the unwritten rule is that you shouldn't talk to your co-workers about what you make. Discussions about salary are often hush-hush affairs over the water cooler when no bosses are within earshot.

In some cases, employers go as far as to put the rules in writing: stay mum about your income. Ann C. Hodges, professor of law at the University of Richmond (Va.) School of Law, said her teenage kids have encountered such rules many times. "They've been told that in every job they've ever had."

But it's illegal. Just as the law protects employees who try to start unions, it also protects those who simply want to discuss working conditions among themselves. "If you do it with another person, it's 'concerted' and protected," Hodges said.

The same thing goes for employees who want to talk to each other about topics like workplace safety or potential discrimination on the job, even if they have no intention of forming a union.

This doesn't mean you should send your salary to the entire newspaper by e-mail or post it on the bulletin board. Rights are good to have, but they gain even more power when you combine them with common sense.