Under the National Labor Relations Act, we have the right to discuss our pay with our coworkers.
Cocteaubeauty 9the author) shared “I was told I was being ‘investigated’ for discussing wages with my other employees”
Scroll down through the whole story below which shows how knowing your rights and not taking things for granted is something we should all practice more often.
Recently, an employee at a busy clinic shared how she got pulled in by her manager to speak to HR for discussing wages with colleagues
“My first reaction, because we all work in a state of at-will employment where we can be fired or quit for any reason, is, am I going to be fired right now? It gives you a feeling of dread not knowing if it’s a minor thing like a time clock punch mistake or a fireable offense,” she told us. It turns out that the incident ended with management profusely apologizing to her, “and I got the letter I asked for documenting the incident and company policy,” she added.
“When I was younger, I didn’t know that was illegal. That’s why now, as an adult, I was so quick to get documentation of the incident to protect myself.”
“I feel like a lot of employers discourage employees from talking about wages because it hurts their bottom line. If an employee who has worked at a company for five years finds out the new hire is making more money with the less total experience, they’re going to realize their employer has been shortchanging their wages,” the author told us.
Later, the author added an update
“I think not sharing wages pits us against each other and makes the promise of a higher wage seem like a carrot being dangled on a stick—we all are led to believe our wages are tied to our productivity and that’s why we shouldn’t share them because the other person might ‘work harder.’ The truth is, wages are largely tied to market fluctuations.”
The author concluded by saying that everyone should “know your worth as a worker, and join a union whenever you can, even the worst union in the world is better than none at all.”
And this is what people had to say about this whole incident
