No Weingarten Representation When Employer Assures Employee Discipline Not Possible

Jacqueline Canovas works for the Miami-Dade County Police Department as a Police Station Specialist in the Training Bureau and is a member of the Professional Law Enforcement Association (PLEA). Canovas’s direct supervisor was Sergeant Audino, who in turn reported to Lieutenant Artime. When Audino was out of the office, Canovas reported directly to Artime. As…

Arrest Does Not Necessarily Trigger Weingarten Rights

The Policemen’s Benevolent Asso­ciation Local No. 105 represents cor­rections officers working for the New Jersey Department of Corrections. The Department ordered corrections Jared Smith and Ivan Rivera to meet with Major Scott Abbott. Stuart Alterman, the PBA’s counsel, learned of the meeting before it oc­curred. Alterman wrote to Major Brian Labonne, “I understand that you…

No Weingarten Violation Absent Request For Representation

The Pennsylvania State Correc­tions Officers Association represents corrections officers working at correc­tional facilities for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Jeremiah Campbell and Amanda Witiak are Corrections Criminal Investigators for the DOC, responsible for conducting criminal and administrative investigations of wrongdoing within the purview of the DOC. On June 29, 2020, Daniel Moser was working his shift…

‘No-Contact’ Order Ruled Illegal

The 22 police officers in the Oakdale Police Department in California are represented by the Oakdale Police Officer’s Association. The Department’s officers wear body cameras. On March 26, 2018, a lieutenant approached Police Chief Scott Heller to discuss concerns over how certain video files were indexed. After logging into the Department’s system to understand the…

‘Witness’ Entitled To Weingarten Representative

Maylee Bardelas is a police officer with the City of Doral, Florida. Bardelas was accused by Sergeant Eric Fernandez of “intentionally driving away from an active shooter scene” and was charged by the Department with “cowardice.” Eventually, the investigation determined that “there was insufficient evidence to substantiate a finding that Bardelas was the officer observed…

Weingarten Violation When Employer Ejects Representative From Meeting

Officers with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections are represented by the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association. In April 2018, Lieutenant Brian Taylor of the Department’s Bureau of Investigations and Intelligence began an investigation into an allegation that an inmate did not receive any food for several days. One of the targets of his investigation was…

WEINGARTEN APPLIES TO WRITTEN REPORTS, NOT JUST INTERVIEWS

Adam Lasad is a college security officer for the San Bernardino Community College District Police Department in California. Sergeant Chris Tamayo began questioning Lasad regarding his whereabouts during his work shift. Lasad, after answering some of Tamayo’s questions, requested a representative from his union, the California School Employees Association (CSEA). Tamayo contacted his own boss,…

What Are The Employer’s Choices When An Employee Asserts Weingarten Rights?

A recent Illinois case analyzed the options available to an employer once an employee who is being interviewed asserts the right to representation under the Weingarten rule. The case involved Elgin Community College police officer Lorie Hermesdorf, who was a member of a bargaining unit represented by the Metropolitan Alliance of Police (MAP). Hermesdorf was…

The Interplay Between Garrity And Weingarten

In July 2009, the Internal Affairs Division (IAD) of the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) was investigating allegations of misbehavior against a PSP member. As part of that investigation, IAD interviewed Corporal Edmund Fret. At the outset of the interview, the IAD representative gave Fret a “reverse-Garrity” warning. In the warning, PSP ordered Fret to answer…

No Weingarten Rights In Texas

The right to union representation in an investigatory interview generally derives from the United States Supreme Court’s decision in NLRB v. Weingarten, 420 U.S. 251 (1975), the seminal case regarding private-sector employee representation rights. In Weingarten, the Court found that Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) granted private-sector employees the right to…

Court Finds Weingarten Rights Exist Under Texas Law, Even In Absence Of Collective Bargaining

Unlike most populous states, Texas has no mandatory statewide collective bargaining law. Though local jurisdictions can choose to adopt collective bargaining, most have not. Section 101.001 of the Texas Labor Code does allow employees the right to form “unions and other organizations,” and provides that “all persons engaged in any kind of labor may associate…