Employee Wants an Advocate

Caroliso

Sybil wants to lodge a grievance against her supervisor, who she feels is badgering her. She also wants to bring in someone of her choosing into any ensuing conversations, as an advocate. Should I allow this? Please read on for details.
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She has a long history of complaints against her supervisor, and her supervisor has a long list of (documented) issues with her. Sybill has been in and out of my office many times with her complaints which I generally direct back to the supervisor, or become involved in facilitating directly.
She now feels as though the supervisor, the supervisor's supervisor, and I are all on one side, and she says she feels intimidated being in a meeting with any of us on this issue. She wants to bring along someone who will "be on her side." None of our policies allow for such a person.
I can say no, but one thing that works against me is that in one other instance with another employee I allowed someone to accompany her in a meeting. It was not a grievance or disciplinary meeting, it was a meeting in which she was returning from leave and the supervisor wanted to lay out the job responsibilities expected at various hours. A friend of this employee, a senior person who is an experienced manager, asked to accompany this person to help her listen and understand what was being asked of her, and to figure out how to respond if there were issues with what was being proposed. The reason I allowed it because the employee is not good at asking follow up questions and responding in meetings in such a way that we can understand if a plan is going to work for her or not. This was an issue where the person was returning from a long recovery from an illness and it was important that she not take on more than she felt she could just because she wanted to be compliant. It is true that she has performance issues, and in part we wanted to make sure she understood what was being asked of her.
Sybill, however, has a different set of issues. She is not one who can't speak up for herself. She *is* one who is extremely argumentative, sets her mind on one perspective and doesn't let go, has a long list of injustices she feels has been done to her and despite what anyone says brings up years old issues to prove her point.
I would almost be easier if she asked to bring her lawyer because I would say no without guilt. Do I create a problem if I don't allow her to bring someone of her choosing into this meeting?

Carol

HRCalico

Carol, are you unionized? If you can figure out how to spell Weingarten (I can never remember), you can look that up because it sounds like that's the rights she's invoking. I'd like to think that the types of meetings are different enough so as to not create a problem, but it's hard to say what it'll look like in front of a jury (if it ever came to that).

Sybil. Heh heh. Don't we all have one of those? (:|

Caroliso

Cali, we are not unionized. I think Sybill is only bringing up the idea because the person I did allow to have a rep is her best friend in the organization. Sybill is one who latches on to any idea if she thinks it will help her. However, I think she is mistaken if she thinks she will easily get someone to sit in on that meeting. I suspect she gets a sympathetic ear because she corners people into conversation, but that is very different from being willing to be her representative in a formal meeting. They've got to recognize what a hornet's nest they'd be putting themselves into, including being dragged back into this again and again.

I see from the responses so far here that people are mixed between do it and don't. What about if it were a mutually agreed upon person, and if the person's role was simply as witness to what occurs, not as one who argues the points with the employee? I don't think I could get my supervisor to agree to anything other than a witness role, and I'm not much interested in it either. Sybill is one who will argue with her rep if she doesn't like what that person has to tell her, and then we'll have a three-ring circus going.

And to answer Cali's other question, yes there seems to be one in every organization sooner or later. The kicker is that Sybill is quite a good worker, but the attitude and behavior sucks. I haven't even told the half of it!

Wildsporty

I would let her bring the person and I would record the meeting. It could actually look like mgmt is all on one side if you refuse. Also I think that Weinberger or however you spell it is extended beyond unions now to the rest of the workforce.

System

The Wiengarten (sp?) rule has, in fact, swung back to the employers side, where the employer does NOT have to allow an employee representative in a counseling or discplinary discussion in a non-union environment. That being said, you now have to determine what kind of precendent you want to establish. If you allow her to have a "friend" at the meeting, how often, and under what circumstances do you allow others to bring along their hand-picked co-workers to those meetings. Personally, I think it is a serious mistake to allow employees to bring along co-workers to employee-management meetings. You may wish to discuss issues with the employee that other employees do not need to hear and you destroy all sense of confidentiality. Other employees merely comlicate the discussion with their own opinions, conjecture and often make thigs more confrontational and adversarial. She is an adult, and can and should fend for herself. If you have a comprehensive complaint procedure, there should be steps that allow her to "appeal" the decisions made in the meeting to a higher managment level. If she is so suspicious of managements motives and thinks the company is "out to get her", there will be no appeasing her, and another employee in the meeting will more often than not only make things worse.

Brother Bluto

I agree with vphr. I'd like to add, if she is wanting to lodge a complaint, as the HRM, I would meet with her first, one on one, and ask what the nature of her complaint is to determine first, whether or not the employee has a legitimate complaint or in voilation of any policy i.e. is the supervisor harassing the employee, is it sexual harassment, is the supervisor being discriminatory, is he showing favoritism, is he threatening the employee with physical violence or asking the employee to perform duties that put her at risk, or is he just doing the job of a supervisor? If the employee has a specific complaint i.e. harassment, then you should have a standard form for the employee to complete and turn into you. You want to know what you're getting into and look at the applicable policies and procedures rather than getting tied up with the difference of personalities. If the employee then submits a written complaint on a standard form, you should have procedures and/or practices for dealing with the problem. Now you have an opportunity to do the research/investigating and if necessary contact legal counsel. Then when you've got everything in order, issue a response in writing to the employee in the presence of another manager-maybe from another department that has not been involved before. At the opening of the meeting explain the necessity of confidentiality and stick to the letter (script). Provide her a copy, retain one with her signature, and as always, let her know that is she doesn't agree with the results she may submit something in writing with a limited time period (2 weeks) to a higher ranking officer. When you have a meeting involving several different folks, it's really hard to stay on task and keep the shouting down to a minimum and not say something you'll regret! One step further, if the employee has performance issues, then more than likely she is using her supervisor as a scapegoat. You'll want to be careful if and when you issue a poor performance evaluation to this employee or worse yet a discipline letter for creating a hostile work environment (just as an example). You don't want to have a retaliation situation on your hands either. Good luck.

Parabeagle

Assuming you're non-union, Weingarten is non-starter. I don't get the impression any of these meetings at which she wants a representative are meetings which will result in disciplinary action, one of the keys to Weingarten representation.

I would tell her no. If she presses the issue, tell her no in a louder tone of voice.

davids

I agree that if you are not unionized, Weingarten does not apply. Generally, I would not allow a non-union employee to bring an advocate; however, allowing it can be to your advantage depending on who the person is. If this employee is argumentative and generally will not hear what is being said, having another pair of ears for her could be helpful. Of course, you won't get to pick who the advocate is, but if the person is more reasonable than the employee, it can be positive.

If you allow an advocate, you will want another management representative with you. You will want to take accurate notes of the meeting or even tape it. Actually, you probably want to do this anyway.

WT

As others have pointed out, the rules for non-union workers to have a witness have swung back and forth at the NLRB. However, even for union shops, this is only if discipline is possible as a result of an investigation. This implies some questions being asked of the employee. To a degree, this is like asking for a lawyer if being questioned by the police. If discipline is already determined, the employer need not worry. If the meeting is only coaching or job performance, even in a union environment, this would not be an issue depending on the contract. However, in this case, since the employee has some sort of persecution complex, I would let her bring her witness. You have nothing to hide.

lnelson

You answered your own question: Your policies do not allow for such a person.

I would not let her bring in a representative.