CAPE represented employees have a right to union representation. Anytime a manager, supervisor, or HR representative asks you to participate in an interview, or even an informal discussion that could result in disciplinary action against you or another employee, you have a right to contact your union for proper representation. Those rights – Weingarten Rights – are established by law, and CAPE members are always encouraged to exercise their Weingarten Rights.
As the Target of an Investigation, Always Remember Your Weingarten Rights!
Your right as an employee to have union representation at investigatory interviews was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1975 case (NLRB vs. Weingarten, Inc. 420 U.S. 251, 88 LRRM 2689). These rights have become known as the Weingarten Rights.
An investigatory interview occurs when a supervisor questions you to obtain information which could be used as a basis for discipline or asks you to defend your conduct.
The first time most county employees become aware that they are being investigated for allegation(s) of misconduct is when they are contacted either by a representative of their department’s personnel division (HR), the County Auditor-Controller’s Office, or when they are called into a manager’s office, normally someone above their immediate supervisor.
If you find yourself in this position, you must always immediately ask what the subject of the meeting is and, if management starts asking questions, whether or not the questions they have for you may result in disciplinary action against you. If you have a reasonable belief that discipline or other adverse consequences may result from what you say, you have the right to request representation by CAPE. These are your Weingarten Rights.
Management is under NO obligation to inform you of your Weingarten Rights; it is your responsibility to know and request. Therefore, you must inform management that you are exercising your right to request union representation. Then, you should immediately call CAPE.
If management asks you to waive your right to union representation, never do so. The importance of you carefully exercising your right to have a CAPE representative present at such investigatory meetings cannot be over-stated.
Don’t ever face an investigation on your own. Always exercise your Weingarten Rights.
CAPE is here for you.
