Have you been served with a Notice of Interview? Has your supervisor directed you to meet him in his office to discuss your alleged misconduct? If so, it is critical that you contact an experienced labor attorney to represent you.
Scenario 1:
If you have been served with a Notice of Interview, you should immediately contact an experienced labor attorney. You should not speak to the investigator prior to your interview. Instead, your attorney should contact the investigator to gather as much information about the allegations in order to prepare you for your interview. Your attorney should request a written statement of the allegations against you. Similarly, your attorney may contact any witnesses familiar with the allegations in order to determine the nature of allegations against you. Pre-interview investigation is critical in properly preparing you for your interview.
Scenario 2:
If your supervisor has directed you to meet him in his office, it is critical that you contact an experienced labor attorney. Your attorney can effectively represent you in any such meeting by determining (prior to the interview) the scope and seriousness of the allegations against you. If you have been ordered to immediately attend any such meeting, you should carefully listen to the questions posed by your supervisor. If you believe your answers to the questions could lead to discipline, you have the right to request a representative to be present during the interview. This is commonly referred to as your “Weingarten Rights”.
During an investigatory interview, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the following rules apply:
1: The employee must make a clear request for union representation before or during the interview. The employee cannot be punished for making this request.
2: After the employee makes the request, the employer must choose from among three options:
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- grant the request and delay questioning until the union representative arrives and (prior to the interview continuing) the representative has a chance to consult privately with the employee;
- deny the request and end the interview immediately; or
- give the employee a clear choice between having the interview without representation, or ending the interview.
3: If the employer denies the request for union representation, and continues to ask questions, it commits an unfair labor practice and the employee has a right to refuse to answer. The employer may not discipline the employee for such a refusal. (NLRB v. Weingarten, 420 U.S. 251, (1975)).
With this in mind, if you are dealing with the above scenarios, contact an experienced labor attorney at Goyette and Associates
