Discussing Pay at Work

sdiconza

I heard that it is against the law to make a policy prohibiting employees from discussing their pay (i.e., exactly how much they get paid) with eachother at work. I believe it has something to do with union organizing. we find that these discussions never end well - someone is always disappointed, disgruntled or downright mad after finding out what a co-worker makes. Are we allowed to prohibit pay/salary discussions in the workplace?

kyliefan

I saw your question & I was pretty sure you were right that employers can't prohibit discussions regarding wages among employees.  I decided to Google the term "unions" with "wage discussions" and one of my first hits was on the National Labor Relations Board website.  (They interpret the NLRA, which has to do with unions--so you were right about that.)

The web page was showing the text of a court case which read, in part: "In the absence of a business justification, an employer violates the Act by the maintenance of a rule that merely requests employees to refrain from discussing their wages with other employees.  Such rules, the Board asserts, “constitutes a clear restraint on the employees’ Section 7 right to engage in concerted activities for mutual aid and protection concerning an undeniably significant term of employment.” 

I found it on  http://www.nlrb.gov/nlrb/shared_files/decisions/340/340-95.htm. Of course, I didn't see a 'business justification' defined anywhere, so I don't know under what circumstances it would be permitted.  But this is at least a clear warning that you'd need to research this more before trying to institute such a policy....