Public Employee Press

Labor fights to restore members’ Weingarten rights

By EDDIE M. DEMMINGS
DC 37 General Counsel

“Weingarten” rights refer to the right of union members to have union representation when they are called to an investigatory interview that could reasonably be expected to lead to disciplinary action. These rights have been made available to both public and private sector employees in New York State.

However, on Feb. 20, a 4-2 majority of the New York State Court of Appeals decided that public sector employees in the state do not have the Weingarten rights that have been enjoyed by private sector employees since 1975. They based their ruling on the fact that the Taylor Law, which governs collective bargaining and union representation issues for most public sector employees, contains different statutory language than the National Labor Relations Act, which covers the private sector.

The two Democratic-appointed justices on the state’s highest court, including the chief justice, wrote a strong dissent from the Republican majority.

Where are we now?
The majority of DC 37 members work in the public sector and still have the right to union representation for investigatory interviews under the citywide contract. But the benefits of that contract are limited to permanent employees.

Also, under Section 75(2) of the state Civil Service Law, permanent competitive employees and non-competitives with more than five years of service have the equivalent of Weingarten rights. In other words, while the Court of Appeals struck down the right of all public sector employees to union representation in investigations, certain categories of employees still maintain those rights.

Also not affected is the right of our members to a lawyer if they are called to an investigation by the New York City Dept. of Investigations.

DC 37 also has members who work at libraries and cultural institutions, which are in the “private” sector. We believe these workers still have Weingarten rights because they are not covered by the Taylor Law.

Where do we go from here?
The New York State AFL-CIO has already introduced legislation in the state Legislature to restore Weingarten rights to all public sector employees. We are reasonably optimistic that the legislation may pass in the foreseeable future.