Discipline rights for union workers

 

Employees may protect themselves from unfair discipline by joining a union. When an employee is a part of a union, management has the burden of proving that the employee required the discipline. Under a union contract, discipline must be progressive, corrective, and for just cause.

Though an employee may be fired immediately for infractions that are serious, (such as stealing,) generally discipline must be progressive. For instance, upon first infraction, the employer may give a warning, upon the second instance there may be a suspension, and so on until the employee may be fired for a repeated problem. 

Next, discipline under unions must be corrective. The point of the discipline should be to correct the worker’s behavior rather than to punish. 

Last, the discipline must be for just cause. Many contracts will contain a provision providing for the discipline that is fair in its reasoning. Since many union contracts have an arbitration agreement, the arbiters use 7 general tests in deciding when there has been just cause for the discipline.

1. The first test questions whether the worker knew what would happen if the rule was broken. When the rule is broken, there has to be a warning which includes what would happen if the rule was broken. This holds true unless the rule’s consequences are blatantly obvious (such as drinking at work.) 
2. The next test attempts to decide whether the rule is important to safe and efficient operations. The more important the rule, the more likely the discipline is reasonable. 
3. The third test strongly suggests that management investigate the issue before the worker is disciplined. Otherwise it seems that management is searching for reasons to back up an erroneous disciplinary action. 
4. Fourth, if there was an investigation, and management only sought information to prove that the worker is guilty, then the investigation was unfair, leading to potential unfair litigation.
5. Fifth, management does not have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, but they do have to produce real evidence of an infraction. The employee does not have to attempt to prove innocence, that burden of proving guilt is on the employer.
6. The next test questions whether rules and consequences were the same for all employees. Management must enforce rules consistently across the board. 
7. Last, management must consider past discipline and the seriousness of the infraction. The kind of rule that was broken should determine the discipline level. For example, if the mistake costs the company a significant amount of money, the discipline should be more harsh that if there is a mere clerical error with minor effects. 

 

Photo credit: Microsoft

Comments

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Discipline is must in every organization. All the disciplinary rules & policies must be known to employees at their time of joining along with the necessary actions which will be taken on breaking the rules & harming the company's discipline. Thanks for sharing this nice post.