What is "Concerted Activity"?
Golf
41 Posts
Where would I find the definition of “Concerted Activity” that might be enforced by the NLRB? Like does it include an employee that might not like what the supervisor asked him to do and makes a big deal of it in front of the other employees in his group? He feels he is the speaker for the group and he is only saying what they are all thinking but afraid to say.
Comments
If so, it's advised that you listen to him, in a venue of your choosing, not his, and then respond to the concerns either by bulletin board or addressing your reply to all employees in a meeting, NEVER TO HIM OR TO A GROUP CLAIMING TO REPRESENT OTHERS. When and if you do THAT, you have in effect recognized the spokesman or committee and this would bind you to continue dealing with him or them. In effect, then, you would be granting him/them recognition as a union.
Not following supervisory direction or acting out and delaying the following of lawful orders or directions meets the definition of insubordination, not concerted activity.
Here's the definition, taken straight from the code:
“Concerted activity” is any activity by individual employees who are united in pursuit of a common goal. To find an employee’s activity to be “concerted,” the action must be engaged in with or on the authority of other employees, and not solely by and on behalf of the employee himself. An employee’s conduct is not “concerted” unless it is engaged in with or on authority of other employees. Meyers Industries, 281 NLRB 882 (1986).
The definition of concerted activity encompasses those circumstances where individual employees seek to initiate, induce, or prepare for group action as well as actions by individual employees bringing truly group complaints to the attention of management.
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"Protected concerted activity" is that activity engaged in for employees’ “mutual aid or protection.” Such activity includes employee efforts to improve working conditions and terms of employment. If an employee is engaged in protected concerted activity, an employer may violate the NLRA if, in addition:
1.
The employer knew of the concerted nature of the employee’s activity;
2.
The concerted activity was protected by the Act; and
3.
The adverse employment action at issue (e.g., discharge) was motivated by the employee’s protected concerted activity.
Section 8 of the NLRA (29 USC § 158(a)(1)) provides:
“It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in [Section 7].”
Tell us more about the situation, what was said, by whom and in what context. Bitching in it of itself is not usually protected..........
Gene
Amen to what Don just said above. I saw it after I posted. If you address the group and the self-proclaimed spokesperson you are in effect bargaining collectively and have recognized them as a unit.