Weingarten Rights - the right to union representation

"Weingarten rights" derive from a 1975 Supreme Court case, NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc. Essentially, they are the right to request assistance from union representatives during investigatory interviews, so that a steward may prevent management from coercing an employee into confessions of misconduct (either through threatening behavior, or simply through skilled interrogation techniques). The union steward can:

• serve as a witness to the actual content of the investigation;
• object to intimidating tactics or confusing questions;
• help an employee avoid making "fatal admissions;"
• advise an employee, when appropriate, against denying everything, and thereby giving the appearance of guilt or dishonesty;
• counsel an employee against losing her/his temper;
• discourage an employee from informing on others;
• raise extenuating factors.

Weingarten rights apply only in investigatory interviews -- that is, when management questions an employee to obtain information; and the employee has a reasonable belief that discipline (or other negative consequences) may result. If an employee is called in to a supervisor's office merely to be informed of a disciplinary decision, the courts have found that this is not an investigatory meeting. The decision to discipline the employee has already been made. However, if the supervisor asks additional questions about the employee's conduct, the meeting becomes an investigatory interview.