The Brechner Center, headed by Frank LoMonte, has issued an important report on “Employees’ Right to Speak to the Media: Challenging Workplace Gag Policies.”
The center says most private workplace gag laws are legally questionable under the National Labor Relations Act.
This concerns private employment places only. (The Brechner Center has other ideas on challenging government workplaces gag orders.)
The report says, “Gagging employees from saying anything about their work to the news media is unnecessary, legally questionable, and contrary to the public’s interest in safe and honest workplaces.”
It also says, “Because the standards for initiating an NLRA case are quite informal, advocates for journalists’ rights should consider filing challenges to overbroad speech policies. Since the law against gagging employees is not widely publicized or understood, challenging overly restrictive policies can help send the message to all employers that their authority over their employees’ speech is limited.”
In November an NLRB judge issued an opinion that forced a hospital to rescind a gag rule on communicating to the press, supporting the Brechner Center report’s theory. (See below.)
The center says most private workplace gag laws are legally questionable under the National Labor Relations Act.
This concerns private employment places only. (The Brechner Center has other ideas on challenging government workplaces gag orders.)
The report says, “Gagging employees from saying anything about their work to the news media is unnecessary, legally questionable, and contrary to the public’s interest in safe and honest workplaces.”
It also says, “Because the standards for initiating an NLRA case are quite informal, advocates for journalists’ rights should consider filing challenges to overbroad speech policies. Since the law against gagging employees is not widely publicized or understood, challenging overly restrictive policies can help send the message to all employers that their authority over their employees’ speech is limited.”
In November an NLRB judge issued an opinion that forced a hospital to rescind a gag rule on communicating to the press, supporting the Brechner Center report’s theory. (See below.)
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