Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Carlo Longino




Your Own Time No Longer Yours

from the tps-report dept

Slashdot reports that the National Labor Relations Board recently ruled a security company's ban on employee fraternization -- on or off duty -- was lawful. So don't worry about having to choose between a competent jerk or a nice moron for a coworker, since you might not be allowed to talk to them anyway.

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    Aug 3rd, 2005 @ 3:54pm
  • Huh?

    by ElectricKarl

    Wait till the supreme court gets ahold of that one. I for one say enough with this rampant corporatism!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Aug 3rd, 2005 @ 6:25pm
  • No Subject Given

    by TJ

    If one looks into this issue more carefully and checks other sources, it is clear that the issue is not at all that simple and relates to behavior while in uniform. Companies have been dismissing people for things done in uniform but off duty for a long time.

    Silly, draconian policy by the company that prompted the ruling? Yes. Sensationalist self-serving 'news' item linked without any balance or alternate point-of-view? Also yes.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • Aug 3rd, 2005 @ 8:04pm
    • Re: No Subject Given

      by Anonymous Hero

      If one looks into this issue more carefully and checks other sources...
      Please identify these unnamed sources. I would like to read more.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

      • Aug 3rd, 2005 @ 8:20pm
      • Re: No Subject Given

        by Anonymous Hero

        To follow up on my own post, I have now read all the news articles I could find on the subject through Google and none of them state that the NLRB ruling was limited to employees in uniform. Just the opposite, some dissent on the board was afraid the ruling might keep employees from organizing unions.

        (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

        • Aug 3rd, 2005 @ 9:12pm
        • Read the Damn Ruling

          Hero, don't read articles, or postings on the boards. Read the damn ruling. It's posted in PDF on the NLRB web site.

          If you bother to read the ruling, it has to do with security guards at a hotel. The "fraternization" has to do with "personal engtanglements" at the hotel. It other words, the guards were not allowed to screw each other at their client's place of business.
          As the ruling noted, such a rule is (and I quote):
          "a proper means for preventing the "apperance of favortism, claims of sexual harassment, and employee dissention created by romantic relationships in the workplace".
          So this ruling is brought on by sexual harassment claims, is a special case of security guards working at a hotel, does not refer to having beers with co-workers after work, or have anything to do with collective bargaining.
          Pretty pathetic that this site is stooping to lying sensationalism. But what do you expect when you post an article third hand without checking the source?

          (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

          • Aug 3rd, 2005 @ 9:52pm
          • Re: Read the Damn Ruling

            Actually, you're talking about a previous ruling, not the one at hand.

            (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

          • Aug 4th, 2005 @ 9:31am
          • Re: Read the Damn Ruling

            by Anonymous Hero

            Talk about lying. I have have read the ruling, here's the URL: http://www.nlrb.gov/nlrb/shared_files/decisions/344/344-97.pdf
            and it it is not limited to fraternization while in uniform. While the ruling mentions a previous case that was about guards at a hotel, this one is not. And yes, it does apply to having a few beers after work. Pretty pathetic the way some posters think no one will check up on them. But what do you expect from turf trolls.

            The NLRB is a federal agency charged with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. As such, their rulings are backed by and have the effect of law. Their rulings create precedence and so this ruling is NOT limited to Guardsmark. It's easy to see why unions, among others, would object to a ruling like this.

            (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    Aug 4th, 2005 @ 7:27am
  • RE:your own time no longer yours

    by Sean

    I have read the entire ruling and this NRLB act is only effective for Gaurdsmark LLC. They simply allowed that part of the Employee handbook rules to stand, there was no law passed thaqt allows your employers to add this rule to their own handbook. The whole story was started by a pro-union website to incite anger, nothing elase to report

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • Aug 4th, 2005 @ 10:17am
    • Re: RE:your own time no longer yours

      I have read the entire ruling and this NRLB act is only effective for Gaurdsmark LLC. They simply allowed that part of the Employee handbook rules to stand, there was no law passed thaqt allows your employers to add this rule to their own handbook. The whole story was started by a pro-union website to incite anger, nothing elase to report

      No one was saying that this was required, but the problem is that any employer can now add the same language to the rules, and it's perfectly legal. That's where the problem comes from.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    Jan 9th, 2008 @ 9:23pm
  • by Anonymous Coward

    This NLRB ruling has been overturned by a Federal court. As a
    result, Guardsmark had to rewrite part of their employee handbook. I work for them; the new language is quite different than what they tried to pull before.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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