Weingarten Rights were first established in 1975 by the Supreme Court case NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc. These rights grant you and your Union representative additional protections in meetings that may lead to disciplinary action. To have a Union representative in the room with you in such meetings, Weingarten Rights must be affirmatively invoked (“I would like to request a Weingarten representative join me in this meeting”). Furthermore, to be able to arrange for a representative join you, the Union will need to be notified, as per our Request a Union Representative page.

When in a disciplinary meeting with your employer, having a Weingarten representative in the room can help you gain a better idea of why you are being disciplined and push back on unjust discipline. Our national affiliate, UE, has put together a good resource on what representatives can do to assist you in a disciplinary meeting.