Your Weingarten Rights

YOU HAVE A LEGAL RIGHT TO UNION REPRESENTATION IF A SUPERVISOR ASKS YOU QUESTIONS OR INITIATES A MEETING THAT YOU BELIEVE COULD LEAD TO DISCIPLINARY ACTION

If management requests such a meeting or begins to question you, tell them that you request union representation and decline to answer questions until your representative arrives. Use this statement:

“If this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined or terminated, or affect my personal working conditions, I respectfully request that my union officer or representative be present. Until my union representative arrives, I respectfully decline to participate in this discussion.”

If management begins to ask you questions that feel accusatory in nature, you do not have to go it alone. If you have a reasonable belief that your answers could be used by the supervisor to discipline you, the Supreme Court says you can decline to answer until a union representative is on the scene and you’ve had a chance to talk things over. The union representative can stay with you during the questioning to advise you, ask supervisors for clarification, and/or give additional information at the end of the questioning.