Earlier this year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) delivered a decision in North Mountain Foothills Apartments, LLC (Case 28–CA–286885) against an Arizona apartment complex for violations of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The Board held that the apartment complex committed unfair labor practices when management interrogated and ultimately terminated an employee for discussing wages and working conditions with coworkers. This was the case even though the apartment complex’s employees were not unionized and were not attempting to unionize.
The issue arose when the employee, shortly after being hired as a maintenance technician, began discussing his workload, working conditions, and rate of pay with coworkers during the workday. When management learned of these discussions from other workers, the owner of the company — concerned that these conversations were being used to “rile up the work environment”— organized a meeting with the employee. During that meeting, the owner told the employee that “your work conditions are nobody’s business but yours” and instructed the employee to stop discussing his wages and working conditions with others. The employee was terminated the next day.
An administrative law judge (ALJ) found that the apartment complex committed unfair labor practices by doing the following:
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Interrogating the employee about discussing his wages.
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Instructing him not to discuss wages and working conditions with coworkers or other third parties.
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Threatening discipline if he continued to engage in protected activities.
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Terminating him for engaging in protected activities.
The ALJ held that the employee was entitled to job reinstatement in addition to compensation for lost earnings, benefits, and other harm caused by the termination. The NLRB affirmed the ALJ’s ruling.
Takeaways for Employers
There are a few important lessons to be learned from this case. Most significantly, employers must be careful not to interfere with employees’ rights to discuss the terms and conditions of their employment. Even a conversation about an employee’s exercise of their rights, depending on the context, can be considered an improper interrogation. Next, employers must not take any retaliatory action if employees exercise these rights.
Another takeaway is that these rules apply, and businesses can commit unfair labor practices, even in a non-union environment. Finally, as noted in the decision, “riling up the work environment” and causing disruption among employees by discussing wages and working conditions are not sufficient reasons to restrict employees’ rights.
For more information about employee rights under the NLRA, members can access Employers Council’s Protected Concerted Activity whitepaper. Consulting and Enterprise members with questions about protected concerted activity or how this ruling could impact their business are encouraged to reach out to an Employers Council attorney for guidance.
John Zubek is an attorney for Employers Council.