Employee’s Right to Union Representation
In a 1975 case (NLRB vs. Weingarten, Inc., 420 U.S. 251, 88 LRRM 2689), the U.S. Supreme Court announced the rights of unionized employees to have a union representative present during investigatory interviews. These rights have become known as the Weingarten rights. Employees have Weingarten rights only during investigatory interviews. An investigatory interview occurs when a supervisor questions an employee to obtain information which could be used as a basis for discipline or asks an employee to defend his or her conduct. If an employee has a reasonable belief that discipline or other adverse consequences may result from what he or she says, the employee has the right to request union representation.
American Federation of Government Employees Local 704 