Who Do I Complain To About Discrimination If I'm HR?

An AOL Jobs reader asked me:

I am a minority female HR professional who has been working in the field for 18 years. I have faced race based discrimination, and sexual harassment continuously during my career. I'm often hired into a management role based on my degree, experience and my SHRM certifications, only to be hidden and given no real responsibilities. Over the years I have learned to identify quickly organizations that offer "Token" positions hoping to fill a quota. These orgs provide no training, support or valid work responsibilities in order to build a case of poor performance.

Unfortunately because I report to HR, following protocol on any harassment claim is nearly impossible. HR staff is notorious for creating the same hostile environments they are hired to protect. HR professionals rarely file complaints for fear of black listing tactics and back door references provided to other HR professionals.

As an employment lawyer have you seen any HR to HR complaints, and do you have any suggestions in regard to HR professionals protecting themselves against the crimes of their peers?

You'd be surprised how many times I have HR people come to me with employment law issues. I have to say, I love representing HR people because you know where the bodies are buried. Employers that don't treat HR professionals like gold are asking for trouble.

So, where does the HR representative go when they're the victim of illegal harassment? For the steps I'd recommend taking, read my column at AOL Jobs.

HR Wants To Meet! What Do I Do?

You get the call or the email and your heart sinks to your feet. HR wants to meet with you. Unless you think a promotion or raise is in the works, a meeting with HR is usually something employees dread. But if you do some basic preparation, you can be ready for anything.

Read my article in AOL Jobs to find out some things HR may want to meet with you about, and what you should do.

What the U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Doesn't Want You to Know About Your Workplace Rights

The National Labor Relations Board says almost all private employers must put up a poster informing you of your workplace rights under the National Labor Relations Act as of April 30, 2012. It’s free. Employers can download it online and print it out. So they all put up their posters, or are working on it now, right? Nosiree.

They sued. At least, they got together under the umbrella of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to sue. They got a temporary injunction in the DC federal courts to stop the rule. They really, really don’t want you to see this poster. It must really be subversive, huh?

Well, see for yourself. Here’s exactly what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce doesn’t want you to know about your workplace rights:

Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) guarantees the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively with their employers, and to engage in other protected concerted activity or to refrain from engaging in any of the above activity. Employees covered by the NLRA are protected from certain types of employer and union misconduct. This Notice gives you general information about your rights, and about the obligations of employers and unions under the NLRA.


Contact the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Federal agency that investigates and resolves complaints under the NLRA, using the contact information supplied below, if you have any questions about specific rights that may apply in your particular workplace.

Under the NLRA, you have the right to:

• Organize a union to negotiate with your employer concerning your wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

• Form, join or assist a union.

• Bargain collectively through representatives of employees’ own choosing for a contract with your employer setting your wages, benefits, hours, and other working conditions.

• Discuss your wages and benefits and other terms and conditions of employment or union organizing with your co-workers or a union.

• Take action with one or more co-workers to improve your working conditions by, among other means, raising work-related complaints directly with your employer or with a government agency, and seeking help from a union.

• Strike and picket, depending on the purpose or means of the strike or the picketing.

• Choose not to do any of these activities, including joining or remaining a member of a union.

Under the NLRA, it is illegal for your employer to:

• Prohibit you from talking about or soliciting for a union during non-work time, such as before or after work or during break times; or from distributing union literature during non-work time, in non-work areas, such as parking lots or break rooms.

Under the NLRA, it is illegal for a union or for the union that represents you in bargaining with your employer to:

• Threaten or coerce you in order to gain your support for the union.

Wow. That’s it, you say? What’s the BFD? Well, I think it’s mostly these provisions big employer doesn’t want you to see:

Discussing wages and benefits with coworkers: The poster says, “Under the NLRA, you have the right to discuss your wages and benefits and other terms and conditions of employment . . . with your co-workers or a union.” Yet many employers take desperate measures to make sure you don’t know what coworkers are making and what benefits they have. Some put out written policies or put restrictions in contracts. That’s flat-out illegal. If you have a contract or if your employer has a policy saying you can’t discuss wages and benefits with coworkers, you can file a Charge Against Employer with NLRB right now. The other part they don’t want you to know about here is your right to grouse about working conditions with coworkers. You can grumble and complain during breaks, on Facebook, in Twitter, as long as you’re doing it with coworkers and they can’t fire or discipline you for it.

Discussing work-related complaints and working conditions with coworkers: The poster says, “Under the NLRA, you have the right to take action with one or more co-workers to improve your working conditions by, among other means, raising work-related complaints directly with your employer or with a government agency, and seeking help from a union.” If you complain about conditions on your own and on behalf of yourself, you aren’t protected. But you have the absolute right (assuming you aren’t a supervisor) to complain about working conditions on behalf of coworkers, to get together with coworkers to discuss and complain, and to get together to try to negotiate better working conditions. That is huge.

Employers like to crack down on employees who complain. They want to create an atmosphere where employees shut up and accept things as they are. Most of the time, it’s best to keep your mouth shut. But sometimes, you have to speak up. If working conditions are intolerable, if it feels like a prison, if you are being paid unfairly, if there’s a bully in the workplace, sometimes you have to speak up. You probably have the right to do so, as long as you aren’t a supervisor, and as long as you’re not alone.

4 Times When You Should Complain About Your Boss

I usually recommend against complaining about your boss. It can be satisfying to complain, but complaining can get you fired. There's no First Amendment in the private workplace, and even government employees' free speech rights are limited. If you say your boss is incompetent or unprofessional, you aren't protected from retaliation.

Still, sometimes you really do have to report your boss to Human Resources or someone in management. Here are four times where you're legally protected from retaliation if you complain (no, I can't guarantee they won't retaliate anyhow, but you have some legal remedies if they do).

Read more on AOL Jobs . . .



Thanks again to Gina Misiroglu of Red Room for putting me in touch with the AOL people!

Yippee - I Can Insult My Boss on Facebook Now!

You’ve probably heard about the case the National Labor Relations Board brought against a company for disciplining an employee based on insults she posted on her Facebook page about her boss. Well, it settled. So I expect to hear about a bunch of employees posting nasty comments about their bosses on Facebook, tweeting about how awful management is, and then wondering why the heck they were fired.

Please, please don’t post anything in social media you don’t want on the front page of the company newsletter. Don’t get yourself fired over something stupid.

The National Labor Relations Act and Concerted Activity

In re American Medical Response of Connecticut, Inc., Case No. 34-CA-12576 (October 27, 2010), is where the NLRB claimed a company violated the “concerted activity” provision of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). I personally like this provision a lot because it applies whether or not the company has a union, and covers pretty much every workplace. HR people and management-side lawyers don’t like to talk about it because it covers anything employees do for mutual aid or protection.

Here’s what it says: “Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” 29 U.S.C. § 157.

If you’re complaining about working conditions, not just your own but also those of your coworkers, you’re possibly protected from retaliation under the National Labor Relations Act. Does that mean you should rush to post what a jerk your boss is? No. Not unless you want to be fired.

The Facebook Case and the Facts

The NLRB’s settlement of this case doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily protected. The facts of the case were not unusual, but they might not apply to you.

The company had a policy that prohibited: “disparaging, discriminatory or defamatory comments when discussing the company or the employee’s superiors, co-workers and/or competitors.” It also prohibited employees from depicting the company in any way in social media. That’s pretty broad. Part of the NLRB’s beef was that the restriction was too broad. The settlement was, in part, that the company would “revise its rules to ensure that they do not improperly restrict employees from discussing their wages, hours and working conditions with co-workers and others while not at work.” The company also agreed that it “would not discipline or discharge employees for engaging in such discussions.”

Granted, the employee’s comments were pretty outrageous: "looks like I'm getting some time off. love how the company allows a 17 (company term for psychiatric patient) to become a supervisor," and saying the boss was "being a d***" and a "scum***." The company said she was rude and unprofessional, and violated their internet policy. Her coworkers then weighed in with comments supporting her and with further negative comments about the supervisor.

A big reason the NLRB found her activities protected was the fact that it resulted in comments from coworkers. If you post something just to vent and it doesn’t result in a discussion with coworkers, you’re probably not in the same boat. So tweeting that your boss is a jerk when your coworkers don’t follow you or comment is probably not going to be treated the same way.

Protesting Working Conditions Might Be Protected

While this wasn’t the first case involving protected comments, it was the first involving social media. Other cases where employee comments about working conditions were protected are where an employee was fired for criticizing unpaid two-hour sales meetings (also probably protected under the Fair Labor Standards Act and some other whistleblower laws, by the way); employees terminated for sending a letter protesting working conditions and that they were being told to spend large amounts of time on the company president’s pet project; and an employee who got a written warning for objecting to a supervisor’s lecture about radio headset volume.

So yes, protesting poor working conditions may well be protected under the National Labor Relations Act.

Why You Should Keep Your Mouth Shut

I still suggest you shut your mouth about any complaints you have, especially in social media. There are just too many ways you can mess yourself up, and the law has too many loopholes to give you much aid and comfort.

Intention is key: Your intent is all-important. If your employer thinks your intent was to retaliate, damage your boss’s reputation, damage the company, or anything but to improve working conditions, then you’re probably going to have to file for unemployment.

No solo act: Your comments have to be part of “concerted activity,” which is defined as “being engaged in with, or on the authority of, other employees, and not solely by and on behalf of the employee himself.” If you go it alone, you do it at your peril.

You might not be protected: There are also lots of exclusions, so many employees aren’t protected. Since the NLRA is meant mostly to protect attempts to unionize, supervisors, independent contractors (yeah, yeah, most employers get this wrong), domestic workers, agricultural workers, family member employees, managerial and confidential employees aren’t protected. If you’re high enough up, you can’t gripe and get away with it.

The company policy might be okay: The NLRB has found other provisions in employer policies didn’t violate the Act. For instance, in one case language that prohibited “disparagement of company’s or competitors’ products, services, executive leadership, employees, strategy, and business prospects” was allowed.

Bullying and harassment is legal: Let’s not forget that there’s still not a single state in the U.S. that has passed a law against workplace bullying. My post with further information about harassment and bullying is here. Bottom line is that a bully boss still has the power to discipline you, decide whether you get raises or promotions, and make your life miserable. Why tick him or her off if you aren’t protected from retaliation?

No free speech at work: The First Amendment doesn’t protect you unless you work for the government. There’s no free speech in corporate America. My post about what you can and should complain about at work and still be protected is here.

But I’m Sure My Company Did Something Illegal

So you think you were fired or disciplined for criticizing your boss, and you’re pretty sure you are protected. Don’t sit on your rights. You only have 6 months to file a complaint with the NLRB.

They will investigate to determine whether or not there’s cause for your charge. They may interview you, at work if you’re still there. You can have a union rep or coworker present with you. A report then goes to the Regional Director, who decides whether or not the case will go forward. Mostly, the cases are dismissed. Only about 1/3 go forward.

If you’re dismissed, you can appeal to the General Counsel’s office.

If the Regional Director finds reasonable cause, then they’ll first try to settle it. About 90% of the cases settle at this stage. If it doesn’t settle, it goes before an Administrative Law Judge and NLRB staff counsel will represent you. You can also have a private lawyer with you, but the lawyer’s role is limited since the case is not yours but the NLRB’s.

If you win, you can get reinstatement, back pay and interest. You cannot get emotional distress or attorney’s fees. The judge can also order that the employer cease and desist their illegal practices.

When in doubt, contact an employment lawyer in your state to get more information about your rights.

When Is A Whistleblower Not a Whistleblower?

I get questions like this and they make me cringe:

I wrote a long letter to the CEO complaining about my boss’s incompetence and lack of ethics. I got fired. Can I sue?

Here's what I'd like to say, but am usually more polite:

Probably not. What on earth made you write a letter like that? No, you don’t get to write emails, memoranda, letters, articles, or Facebook entries attacking your boss or the company unless you want to be fired.

Ethical violations and incompetence are not things you can complain about and be a whistleblower. If the ethical violations are also legal violations, you may be a whistleblower. However, if your boss is ripping the company off or going off on her own and breaking the law, you’re still probably not a whistleblower.

To be a whistleblower, you probably have to object to or refuse to participate in an illegal practice or activity of the company. For instance, if you object to discrimination, mortgage fraud, Medicaid fraud, dumping of pollutants, something that is a violation of a law, government regulation or ordinance, that the company knows about and condones or allows, then you may be a whistleblower.

If you’re a whistleblower and the company fires you or demotes you, then you should contact an employment attorney about your rights.

If your boss is incompetent or unethical, put up with it quietly while you look for another job.