Meet Your Friend, Weingarten. Know Your Faculty Rights.
One of the roles of the Faculty Assembly, and in particular the Office of the Ombuds, is to ensure its members are educated on their rights and responsibilities as employees. While it is not pleasant to imagine the situation, as an employee, you may one day be called in by Administration for some sort of investigatory interview that may result in disciplinary action against you or another employee. Do you know you have rights to exercise before participating in such a discussion?
In 1975, the Supreme Court ruled in the Weingarten case to recognize an employee’s right to representation at an investigatory interview that the employee reasonably believes might result in disciplinary action. As an employee, you must invoke this right.
Additionally, our contract outlines your right to representation in L.3.0 Investigative Process on pp. 78-80. If an employee is subject to an interview that may result in disciplinary or other adverse action, the employee needs to be given the following:
notice in writing at least 24 hours in advance detailing the subject matter of the interview,
the names of those conducting the interview,
and whether the employee is being compelled to appear or cooperate.
The notice must also include a copy of the Investigative Process as fully detailed in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Just as with your Weingarten right, you can request and are entitled to be represented at the interview, and the interview can be postponed for an additional working day to enable the employee to secure representation. The employee must also be provided with any prior statements of the employee in the possession or available to the District that relate to the subject matter of the interview.
So if you ever find yourself in such a situation, please contact the Ombudsperson or FA President so we can assist you and ensure your rights are protected.
Other Articles in the February 7, 2017 Newsletter :
