Employee Talk

HR Surprise

We recently had (and still have) an employee who was upset with her supervisor tell a prospective employee not to take a job with us. In doing so, she told several untruths about her experience within the department. (She has since transfered to another department, but still has contact with staff at her previous site.) I maintain this is highly unprofessional conduct and should be addressed by her new supervisor. However, her new supervisor believes that employees have a right to say what they want, and that we, as employers, cannot discipline for "talking". (The current supervisor sides with the employee because she did not like the other supervisor either - and granted, he is difficult, but that has already been addressed.) This "talking" however, could have cost us a good employee had she decided to take the advice (she didn't,thank goodness). Then last week I received another report that this same employee is still bad-mouthing her previous department. I feel there's got to be something we can do, but can't find a specific precedent to cite to back up my 'feeling'. Can anyone help???

System

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-12-01 AT 02:49PM (CST)[/font][p]This is either going to be an employee who is carrrying on with a personal gripe or something that could be considered a form of "concerted activity" that could fall under NLRA.

I suspect it is the former. Even though there is another supervisor who seems to support this employee, there doesn't appear to be the use of any formal process, such as a grievance, in which the employee is expressing her dissatisfaction with the first supervisor. What you pointed out was that she told another individual, a propsective employee, about her feelings against the first supervisor. That may or may not have caused the prospective employee to change his or her mind. If it did, you could make a case that the employee's "gripe" interfered with work. But, it seems to me that if the prospective employee changed his or her mind after going thourgh the selection process just by hearing one employee, that person was probably really not interested in the job (I assume the person didn't contact anyone at the company to allay her concerns about what she heard).

Employee personal griping, obviously occurs with just about every employer, at some time or other. But I think if you can establish that this employee convinced an actual candidate NOT to join the company, you can at least counsel the employee. Do you have anything in your policy manual about not making false or derogatory statements about managers, supervisors, and co-workers? If you do, you may be able to impose a disciplinary action. If you don't, then you need to put the employee on "notice" about acceptable behavior. If you don't have a policy statement along these lines, you should take a look at developing one; one that is consistent with keeping it out of "concerted activity" factors. Take look at Gear v. NLRB 330 F2d 683 on this issue.

HR Surprise

Thanks, Gene.
We do have a grievance procedure - but the employee chose to transfer rather than file. The prospective employee did go to the office manager - that's how we found out what was being said. We do not have a policy on false or derogatory statements (do you know where I can get a "sample"?). I tried to find the case you cited - Gear v. NLRB - but was unable to find it....so, any suggestions as to where to access it on-line?

It sounds like there's not too much we can do except put her "on notice"....

Jackson

OK guys, this one is not that complicated. (Or maybe I'm just too quick to take the John Wayne approach) First you call in complainer employee and explain to her that the organization is well aware of her bad-mouthing the organization and her supervisor. You explain to her that such conduct is distracting to her work, the work of those around her, and therefore to the organization in general. Explain that such distractions inhibit the flow of work and therefore have a negative effect on productivity. Explain further that something or someone who hinders the work of the organization is a liability and that the organization will have to consider whether it can retain such a liability. Let that sink in and then suggest that further conduct or "talk" that is counter-productive to the mission of the organization may be more than you want to tolerate. She'll get the message. You might also advise her that her comments about her former manager (you mentioned that some were false) could, if believed by management, have wrongfully affected his status with the company. In which case he might seek relief through slander or defamation litigation against her personally. So there you go pilgrims. I'll be see'n ya.

System

I agree with Jackson here. We had a similar situation with an employee that has been with our company for over 10 years, and he had grown increasingly belligerent towards managers, supervisors and co-workers - a real attitude problem to say the least! We handled it almost exactly as Jackson suggests here, and we put it all in writing, and this employee did get the message loud & clear, and has been behaving like an "angel" ever since!

Employees are hired to do their work, and although everyone has a right to air their feelings, and this is human nature, work is for work, and excessive "airing" must be addressed or they will take advantage, and a problem that could have been nipped in the bud will grow into a huge future problem.

Ana

Gar

I too agree with Jackson. I'd sit down with the employee and counsel her. But that's about as far as I would go at this time. However, if it keeps up, I'd want to take sterner measures, perhaps a written warning. I don't see an NLRB issue here simply because the employee's gripe appears to be with a supervisor or department as opposed to the employer in general.

System

You should worry that this might be concerted activity under the NLRA. Concerted activity is speaking out on an issue that affects other employees. Whining about a supervisor could qualify if it's something that affects others. Bad-mouthing the company to an applicant probably isn't a concerted activity.

When engaged in a concerted activity, an employee has some leeway to be a little rude or use bad language. Here are some links that might help, or use the search box at left to look for the word concerted.

[url]http://www.hrhero.com/q&a/nlrb.shtml[/url]
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/national/nlrb.shtml[/url]

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers

felicia_matthews

I do not think you should allow this bad-mouthing to continue unanswered. Not only is it unprofessional and conter-productive to your business efforts, you could end up with a suit from the bad-mouthing employee. He/she resigns, etc, and then slaps you with a hostile work environment, harassment or discrimination claim and names this supervisor as well. The employee then states that you were aware for many months (or years) that this he/she was unhappy and even transferred to another department in order to "get away" from this supervisor. I think you want to do an investigation, just as you would with any type of harassment situation. You want to make sure that there are not any legitimate issues lying beneath the surface. And taking on the job of performing an investigation can only help you if the employee later tries to say that the company just didn't care and looked the other way. Conversely, the supervisor has a right to work in an environment where he is treated with respect, and allowing false statements to be said about him is negligent. If this employee is just a trouble-maker, then he/she is not just going to stop. He/she will find something or someone to compalain about, and you will just a different day with a new problem.