for display only
Big Blue Interactive The Corner Forum  
Back to the Corner

Archived Thread

NFT: If your employer has told you that you cannot tell anyone

Hammer : 4/5/2020 11:38 am
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.
As long as you do not disparage your employer's products or services  
Hammer : 4/5/2020 11:42 am : link
while speaking about your group safety concerns.
Not necessarily  
Big Al : 4/5/2020 11:47 am : link
Depends on who your employer is.
You’re right, the NLRA applies to private sector employers  
Hammer : 4/5/2020 12:11 pm : link
Not public sector employers.
On Friday 3/13  
Matt M. : 4/5/2020 2:26 pm : link
as our office was anticipating when schools would be closed and the impact on our office, I heard a rumor that at least 2 other people in our building (other office, same organization) were t work all week and not sent home. Later in the day, right before we had a team meeting (at my request because we heard nothing from our Executive Director all week and people were freaking out), a second rumor was spreading that 2 more employees had spouses who recently returned from travel to Iran and China respectively. At the team meeting I asked of our ED had been in contact with leadership in other offices and shared the rumors. He refused to contact them because I didn't have a source. I did not return to the office because I was sick over the weekend (turned out to be a positive case). On Tuesday afternoon, 3/17, there was a positive case in the building in one of the rumored offices. They did not close the building. They claimed they cleaned overnight until 3am. Given how the cleaning crew doesn't actually clean in normal circumstances, I have no faith the building was properly disinfected, especially in just a few hours.

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.
Matt  
Hammer : 4/5/2020 4:31 pm : link
As part of my job I field calls from the public. Over the course of the last month of so, my colleagues and I have heard stories similar to yours.

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 )
RE: Matt  
Matt M. : 4/5/2020 4:44 pm : link
In comment 14860035 Hammer said:
Quote:
As part of my job I field calls from the public. Over the course of the last month of so, my colleagues and I have heard stories similar to yours.

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 )
In the DOe it has been problematic. School administrators were specifically told not to report positive cases to the DOH. I know of at least one teacher who lives in Nassau, was tested in Nassau and informed the Principal and Superintendant. Because it was not in NYC, the NYC DOH was not notified, which was required for the school to be closed. Other teachers ended up positive and the school remained open for staff.

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.
Back to the Corner