When you receive a phone call from your supervisor requesting an unscheduled meeting, there is a real possibility that this meeting is investigatory in nature. To ensure your rights the Supreme Court issued the Weingarten Decision and this basically states:
- The employee must make a clear request for union representation before or during the interview. The employee cannot be punished for making the request.
- After the employee makes the request, the employer must choose among three options. The employer must either:
- Grant the request and delay questioning until union representative arrives and has a chance to consult privately with the employee: or
- Deny the request and end the interview immediately: or
- Give the employee a choice of 1) having the interview without representation, or 2) ending the interview
- If the employer denies the request for union representation and continues to ask questions. It commits an Unfair Labor Practice and the employee has the right to refuse to answer. The employer may not discipline the employee for such a refusal.
If you need representation the list of officers is known to management and they have contacted us with times and dates for WSNA officers or representatives to be present.
Do You Need to File a Grievance?
A grievance is filed when there is Just Cause.
Just Cause entails:
- Was the Nurse adequately warned of the consequences of conduct?
- Was the rule or order reasonably related to efficient and safe operations?
- Did management investigate before administering the discipline?
- Did the investigation produce substantial evidence or proof of guilt?
- Were the rules, orders, and penalties applied evenhandedly and without discrimination?
- Was the penalty reasonably related to the seriousness of the offense and the past record?
When you contact Union Representation to file a grievance you will need to give a timeline of incidents surrounding this investigation so sit and think of everything that occurred, who you worked with, any staffing issues and any conversations with supervisors that occurred.
Do not leave out any past issues that may have happened. Even though you are being disciplined about a concern, another incident from your past may pop up during discussion that would lead administration to have concerns about your practice as an RN. If these were two separate incidents they should not be viewed together as a punishment for the last incident, so contact your grievance officer.
