Wow, what a ride! I'll admit I wasn't too sure about taking this class. I've learned and practiced many of the basic concepts of HR: recruiting, employee relations, staffing, etc. However, something pushed me to do so and I'm very glad I did. Rather than only the typical reading and test-taking, this course combined different learning elements and encouraged us as students to research articles and learn from each other as business professionals. The sharing of information and experiences in the discussion boards was the most valuable part of this course for me.
One discussion was particularly interesting to me, the one that pertained to health insurance. There were several elements of benefit design that were unclear to me and after hearing about everyone's experiences with implementing benefits in their places of employment, things were really cleared up. It was interesting to hear that other students in the class were experiencing the same gripes and challenges of our current healthcare system at their places of employment. By sharing experiences and methods we use in the discussion board, we are not only learning about a specific concept in HR, we are pushed to find examples of it in real life. Finally, it was interesting to hear about experiences from people in professions other than HR. We all asked questions to each other and were forced to look at issues from a different perspective. By not meeting in person, I think we were also able to provide more information than we would have in a classroom setting. This course was a great learning experience and I hope to have at least one more similarly enjoyable course during my MBA experience at Kutztown.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Weingarten Rights
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a decision from the case NLRB vs. J. Weingarten (1975) that stated employees had a right to union representation during investigation interviews between the company and union employee, or Weingarten Rights (Wikipedia). The three rules that apply during such an interview are:
1) The suspected employee needs to make a clear request for representation by a union member before or during the interview and employee cannot be punished for making this request.
2) The company has 3 options once the request is made. The company can grant the request and delay questions until the representative arrives and speaks to the employee privately, can deny the request and end the interview at that time or give the employee the choice to continue the interview without representation.
3) The company is in violation of fair labor practices if he or she denies the request for representation and continues to ask questions and the employee has the right to refuse to answer and cannot be disciplined (Wikipedia).
If a supervisor suspected an employee of violating a company rule, such as stealing, the supervisor is required to allow a union representative to attend the meeting if the employee requests it. In my experience, working at a company with a bargaining unit, I usually call the union representative to inform him of the issue and set-up a meeting for later that day so he has time to meet with the employee and we all discuss the issue together. By including the union at the beginning, the company puts forth an effort to greatly reduce any misunderstandings, which has nearly eliminated all grievances for us in the past few years.
Article cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weingarten_Rights
Image: http://www.mep.purdue.edu/images/home_banner/hand_shake.jpg
1) The suspected employee needs to make a clear request for representation by a union member before or during the interview and employee cannot be punished for making this request.
2) The company has 3 options once the request is made. The company can grant the request and delay questions until the representative arrives and speaks to the employee privately, can deny the request and end the interview at that time or give the employee the choice to continue the interview without representation.
3) The company is in violation of fair labor practices if he or she denies the request for representation and continues to ask questions and the employee has the right to refuse to answer and cannot be disciplined (Wikipedia).
If a supervisor suspected an employee of violating a company rule, such as stealing, the supervisor is required to allow a union representative to attend the meeting if the employee requests it. In my experience, working at a company with a bargaining unit, I usually call the union representative to inform him of the issue and set-up a meeting for later that day so he has time to meet with the employee and we all discuss the issue together. By including the union at the beginning, the company puts forth an effort to greatly reduce any misunderstandings, which has nearly eliminated all grievances for us in the past few years.
Article cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weingarten_Rights
Image: http://www.mep.purdue.edu/images/home_banner/hand_shake.jpg
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