National Labor Board Rules Bentley University Violated Federal Law by Ordering Union Not To Speak on Behalf of Employe

Employees represented by a union in the private sector generally have a right to have their union accompany them to a disciplinary interview. This is known in labor law as a "Weingarten" right, after a famous case of same name before the National Labor Relations Board. This Weingarten right means that certain employers must respect an employee's request for assistance from their union. The employer cannot order the employee to speak without a union representative or discipline the employee for invoking this right.

Union representatives serving in a Weingarten capacity may participate during the interview, so long as their participation does not materially interfere with this investigation.

In a case decided this week, the National Labor Relations Board agreed that Bentley violated the law when it ordered a union representative not to speak during an interview about possible misconduct. The NLRB ruled that this order violated the union's right to actively assist a member during an interview.

As of right now, employees in a non-union workplace do not have a right to insist that their employer allow them to bring a colleague into an interview that could lead to discipline.