A Harassment-Free Workplace vs the Right to Engage in Concerted Activity

1st Talk Compliance features guest Lauren Moak Russell, Counsel at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP in Wilmington, Delaware, on the topic of “A Harassment-Free Workplace vs the Right to Engage in Concerted Activity.” Lauren joins our host Catherine Short to discuss how the National Labor Relations Board under the Biden Administration has expressed a renewed interest in expanding its influence into non-unionized work forces. This includes reviewing and–in the right circumstances challenging–employers’ use of workplace civility, confidentiality, and anti-harassment policies. Listen as we discuss what you need to know to safely navigate the National Labor Relations Act while ensuring that your employees enjoy a safe and respectful work environment. Catherine Short: 0:01 Welcome, and let’s 1st Talk Compliance. I’m Catherine Short, Manager of Virtual Education at First Healthcare Compliance. Thanks for tuning in. This show is brought to you by First Healthcare Compliance as part of our commitment to provide high quality complementary educational resources. We help create confidence among compliance professionals throughout the United States. Please show your support by taking a moment to provide a review on Google, Facebook or iTunes. You can also follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. On today’s episode, we are speaking with Lauren Moak Russell, Counsel at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP in Wilmington, Delaware, on the topic of a harassment free workplace versus the right to engage in concerted activity. The National Labor Relations Board under the Biden administration has expressed a renewed interest in expanding its influence into non-unionized workforces. This includes reviewing and in the right circumstances, challenging employers use of workplace civility, confidentiality, and anti-harassment policies. Listen as we discuss what you need to know to safely navigate the National Labor Relations Act while ensuring that your employees enjoy a safe and respectful work environment. Before we begin, I would like to mention at First Healthcare Compliance, we strive to serve as a trusted resource for compliance professionals, and every month we celebrate their hard work and dedication with our compliance Super Ninja recognition. For this episode, we’re spotlighting Super Ninja Sharon Miller, administrator at Gulf Coast Dermatopathology Laboratory. Sharon says “patient care is paramount and by creating a culture of caring, compassion and respect, we have succeeded in all we do. We try to promote a family atmosphere which in turn translates to ultimate patient care”. Congratulations, Sharon. Our team is honored to have the privilege of working with you. Well, thank you so much, Lauren, for being on First Talk Compliance. Thank you for being here. Lauren Russell 2:16 My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Catherine Short 2:18 Today, we’re talking about workplace civility, and also about the National Labor Relations Board. Can you get us started in talking about how things have changed as opposed to the previous administration? Lauren Russell 2:34 Absolutely. So I think that the first thing that listeners really need to understand is that the National Labor Relations Board is not just for unionized workforces, that it has a role in regulating nonunion workforces, particularly where employer policies impact what we call section seven rights, and that’s really employee’s rights to talk about the terms and conditions of their employment. This is an area where we see a lot of ebb and flow between Republican and Democratic administrations at the federal level. I know it’s not a popular thing to talk politics these days, it’s oftentimes very inflammatory, but the reality is that the board changes its conduct very significantly between administrations. And so we had under the Trump administration, a board that really saw its role as very limited in terms of just regulating the relationship between organized labor, which is what we call a unionized workforce and management. To a Biden administration and a board that really sees its role as very expansive and is very focused on ensuring that even in a non-organized workforce, so a non-unionized workforce, that employers are conducting themselves in a way that does not adversely impact employees, what we call Protected Concerted Activity. So their ability to talk about the terms and conditions of employment. This includes a lot of things that make employers uncomfortable, including wages, compensation, comparing how much I make to how much you make, masking, vaccination requirements, anything that keeps a manager up at night, is something that almost certainly touches on Protected Concerted Activity and that can be protected by the National Labor Relations Board. Catherine Short 4:33 So, employees have the right then to discuss their pay with each other. Is that correct?...