Immigration Rally Day

KLeede

Not many of our employees missed work last year to attend immigration reform rallies, but we are already hearing that many are talking about participating in the May 1 rally this year.  We didn't discipline employees that attended last year and most of them notified their supervisors in advance and used paid vacation or personal time for the day off.  I'm wondering what other companies are doing to prepare for anticipated absences (and unanticipated ones!).  Thanks!

SFbay

I thought that maybe there would be fewer workers attending the rallies since the immigration issue hasn't been in the headlines as much as last year.  We are located in a city where political activism is very big, so such rallies and protests could affect us.  We've found that if we ask employees to request the day off in advance, employees usually comply.  We just don't want employees calling in sick the day of the events.

BarbieW

I think the immigration debate is really heating up right now especially with the proposals on guest workers, so there could be a groundswell of support for rallies. I do remember reading some articles about this last year--recall something about the NLRA and unfair trade practices, but can't remember exactly how it fit in. Does anyone remember the issues? Was it collective activity and then some concerns about discrimination?

californian

In California, the law is pretty clear -- employers can't coerce or influence employees to undertake (or not undertake) political action or political activity. We have a very diverse workforce with many employees who took the day off last year to participate in immigration rallies. It did make coverage difficult, but I think it was also a good employer practice to grant leave liberally and not begrudgingly. I know there were some employers in our area who gave employees a hard time due to the operational difficulties it caused (and in violation of the law -- I think). We plan on giving leave to whomever wishes to attend a rally this year if the employee has leave to take.

Bridget1

There also may be issues under the NLRA if you interfere with a group of employees discussing a plan to participate. Could be concerted activity under NLRA.