Employees who "meet the press" may be protected
You probably know that the sharing of wage information among employees can be considered protected concerted activity, but what about employees who talk to the press about wages?
In March, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) released a Division of Advice Memorandum finding that an employee’s interview with a newspaper reporter about the impact of a raise in the minimum wage amounted to protected concerted activity.
Hotel owner directed the reporter to an employee
The reporter first spoke with a hotel owner who stated a position against a proposed minimum-wage hike. When the reporter asked to speak to someone else about it, and the owner directed the reporter to an employee.
Later that day, the employee and one of the hotel’s managers had a discussion with the reporter during which the manager talked about hotel upgrades. Afterwards, the reporter and employee spoke in a separate room. Among other things, the employee told the reporter about not being able to pay utility bills due to low wages.
Article put employer in a poor light
The published article stated that instead of paying employees above the minimum wage, the employer had chosen to make hotel upgrades. The employer received phone calls offering to pay the employee’s electric bills and asking why the owner did not pay its employees more.
Upset with the article, the owner fired the employee. The manager later called the employee and explained that the employee should not have agreed to the interview because it involved a discussion about the hotel and the owner. There were two follow-up articles about the employee’s firing that were sympathetic toward the employee; other publications also ran articles about the employee’s discharge.
Concerted activity
The NLRB concluded that the employee’s interview was concerted activity because the employee:
- Spoke to the news media about the hardships that minimum-wage workers faced and explicitly complained that a raise in the minimum wage was not occurring sooner,
- Sought to improve not only own her own working conditions but those of coworkers, all of whom were paid at the minimum-wage level, as well as other minimum-wage workers,
- Joined a second minimum-wage employee who also gave an interview to the reporter on the same day about the same topic,
- Was likely aware that the reporter was speaking with other workers in the same town, including at the nearby fast-food restaurant, before speaking at length to the reporter, and
- Had good reason to believe the article would elicit public support for an additional or accelerated increase in their wages.
Key to remember: Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) says that, in a union or not, “Employees shall have the right to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” An NLRB memorandum indicates this protection extends to employees talking to the press about their wages, or wages in general.
