about your and your coworker's safety concerns, including the media, without first clearing it with them they are in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act.
Employees are protected from employer retaliation for bringing legitimate group safety concerns to the public's attention by the NLRA.
In that regard, the NLRA is enforced by the National Labor Relations Board.
See NLRB.gov for further information.
When I reported I was sick to him he said nothing. A week later when I said I was still sick and my doctor brought me in to test me, he said nothing. When I finally got the results back on Monday 3/30 he wrote to the office on Tuesday and said I was feeling better, which was not the case. He has not personally checked in with me in 3 weeks to see how I am doing.
Everyone is shooting from the hip now, and everyone is quite reasonably frightened. There are so many laws regarding COVID-19 being passed on the federal, state and local level that is difficult to figure out employee rights and employer responsibilities.
In terms of my thread, what is irking me is that many employers, hospitals in particular, are promulgating rules that require employees to seek permission from the employer to speak to the media, post on social media, or make any public comments about the safety of their workplaces.
In essence, these employers do not want their employees to publicize their concerns about the lack of personal protection in the workplace and that their employers are shirking their responsibility to make employees safe.
These rules, in the private sector, are per se unlawful. I want to make that perfectly clear. An employer cannot tell an employee that they cannot freely bring their COLLECTIVE workplace safety concerns to the public. Remember, the concern cannot be individual in nature, it has to apply to more than one person. And, just as importantly, the employee cannot disparage the employer's product or service.
Things in the public sector are a bit more murky. In that regard, even in the public sector, employees have a right to speak out about their conditions of work if their speech touches on a matter of public concern. So, a teacher can speak out about anti-viral measures being taken or not taken in a school as long as the speech is something that a parent would need to know in order to make a decision about their child.
I hope all of this is helpful to someone that finds themselves in a pickle because they complained about their and their coworkers safety in the workplace.
If someone has a specific question, they should go onto the NLRB public website and lookup the contact number for a Regional office in their region of the country.
Public employee speech - ( New Window )
Everyone is shooting from the hip now, and everyone is quite reasonably frightened. There are so many laws regarding COVID-19 being passed on the federal, state and local level that is difficult to figure out employee rights and employer responsibilities.
In terms of my thread, what is irking me is that many employers, hospitals in particular, are promulgating rules that require employees to seek permission from the employer to speak to the media, post on social media, or make any public comments about the safety of their workplaces.
In essence, these employers do not want their employees to publicize their concerns about the lack of personal protection in the workplace and that their employers are shirking their responsibility to make employees safe.
These rules, in the private sector, are per se unlawful. I want to make that perfectly clear. An employer cannot tell an employee that they cannot freely bring their COLLECTIVE workplace safety concerns to the public. Remember, the concern cannot be individual in nature, it has to apply to more than one person. And, just as importantly, the employee cannot disparage the employer's product or service.
Things in the public sector are a bit more murky. In that regard, even in the public sector, employees have a right to speak out about their conditions of work if their speech touches on a matter of public concern. So, a teacher can speak out about anti-viral measures being taken or not taken in a school as long as the speech is something that a parent would need to know in order to make a decision about their child.
I hope all of this is helpful to someone that finds themselves in a pickle because they complained about their and their coworkers safety in the workplace.
If someone has a specific question, they should go onto the NLRB public website and lookup the contact number for a Regional office in their region of the country. Public employee speech - ( New Window )
The Chancellor has also dismissed any criticism based on stories of teachers (incluuding the one above) because they were covered in the Post.
NYC schools did not close if teachers tested positive. NYC schools did not close if parents of students tested positive. This, plus the reluctance to close all schools put thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of families at risk.