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Forced to waive rights under contract

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bullied_steward

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA State.
Can an employer make you waive some of your rights under the collective bargaining agreement as a disciplinary action?
This is for public school employees in WA state.
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA State.
Can an employer make you waive some of your rights under the collective bargaining agreement as a disciplinary action?
This is for public school employees in WA state.
You really need to be speaking to your union rep, but no, I don't believe that they can, unless the collective bargaining agreement specifically allows for that.
 

bullied_steward

Junior Member
The unoin reps arranged this. Our contract doesn't allow side agreements for differend employees. We are night custodians who left a half hour early one night in December to avoid getting snowed in. I submitted a emergency leave request within the allowed time, but it was ignored even though I had e-mail proof. We were investigated and accused of stealing time and lying about it. The teachers did the same thing a year before that and were just asked to make up the time. We had to sign a document that said we were not going to get prorgessive discipline rights any more. If we do anything wrong they want to just be able to fire us. Under the contract progressive discipline must be followed and must be for the same type of infraction. I just want this document removed from our files. The reason I want this is becaused I have been accused of being 5 minuites late a couple of times. Usually all it takes in an accusation to get disciplined.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
That's what contracts do. To make them legal, each side has to give up things. Legal rights may be one of those things.

For example, I have the legal right to be in possession of my house. If I contract to sell it or to rent it, I give up the legal right to possess it. It seems like those you gave power to negotiate your legal rights gave up one thing you would rather have.
 

bullied_steward

Junior Member
That's what contracts do. To make them legal, each side has to give up things. Legal rights may be one of those things.

For example, I have the legal right to be in possession of my house. If I contract to sell it or to rent it, I give up the legal right to possess it. It seems like those you gave power to negotiate your legal rights gave up one thing you would rather have.
Our contract prohibits the management from picking out members and making side deals affecting their rights under the contract. Also there are some rights that you can't give up like overtime pay. I can't ask somone to give up their rights under the EEOC as a condition to stay employed.
I was wondering if this was one of their cases. I have to give up some of my rights under the contract to keep my job. What good is a contract then?
 

bullied_steward

Junior Member
Not being fired for no reason as an "at will" employee jumps to mind.
Eroding away the contract is pushing me towards being an at will employee. In a perfect world I'm not supposed to be targeted for doing my job as a steward, but it happens and it's hard to prove. This is why I need equal protection under the contract
 

LeeHarveyBlotto

Senior Member
Eroding away the contract is pushing me towards being an at will employee. In a perfect world I'm not supposed to be targeted for doing my job as a steward, but it happens and it's hard to prove. This is why I need equal protection under the contract
In a perfect world, everyone would be an at will employee.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
Eroding away the contract is pushing me towards being an at will employee. In a perfect world I'm not supposed to be targeted for doing my job as a steward, but it happens and it's hard to prove. This is why I need equal protection under the contract
You are talking in circles. You have some negative information in your file because of time issue. You don't want it there. However, the powers that be felt you lied or whatnot and "forced" you to sign a paper giving up future progressive discipline rights. If they gave up nothing, the paper you signed is meaningless as it is not a contract. I suspect they gave up the right to fire you then and there, right?

In other words, the way they "forced" you to sign the paper is by saying something like "We will fire you for your misconduct now, or you will sign this paper so we don't have to go through all the steps if this happens again." You signed and now you want what you gave up to not be fired back. I have no idea because of how you keep wanting to talk about irrelevant things if that is the case, but it is what I have gleaned from between the lines.

Now, you may not have agreed they were correct in their assessment about you lying and stealing time. What could you have done in due process to try to prove your case? Why didn't you? And, you may not think if fair teachers did not get the same penalty for what you perceive to be the same thing. How does that relate to your situation at all? They have a different contract completely. The powers that be also have a different set of the ease to replace a teach as compared to a janitor.
 

bullied_steward

Junior Member
Lol! I thought the question was fairly straightforward. Can somone be made to give up rights under their contract to stay employed.
When this happened I was fairly new as a steward and didn't know very much about my rights. I had proof that I followed procedure. E-mail is forever. you can't hide it. It will always be there. The district disregarded it and the union refused to file a grievance. I don't know why. I do know that management had previously contacted the union chapter to president set up a meeting with HR to discuss my future as a union steward (I think that is interferance or collusion). This e-mail was forwarded to me by the chapter president.

This extra information just adds a little context to the situation.

Why I'm concerned about it now is that the same member of managment who wanted me kicked out of the union leadership has been put in charge of us again and he is the one that is making accusations against me again. This puts me in a bad situation having a document on file that says I don't have the same rights as others under the contract.

I have been accostomed to all of the little retaliations from the district for representing fellow employees or negotiating on the contract bargaining team, However the little retaliations can now be made more serious.
 

bullied_steward

Junior Member
Oops...this thread was accidentally closed.
Thank you quincy for showing me how to re-open a thread.

Now people please if could, provide something a little more useful than "In a perfect world all jobs would be at will".
I used to be anti union until I found myself working for what I can best describe as high functioning sociopaths. If you are anti union I'm sure that there are plenty of appropriate forums to express your feelings.
Thank you. And thank you to those who provided helpful information.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Since we have not read your contract we have no way of knowing if it has a provision for you to be required to waive any rights. That is what your union steward is for.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
Any collective bargaining agreement is going to have a section on disciplining employees. There, there will be a clause like (But not exactly, this is from a college's agreement.):

(f) Upon receipt of the committee report, the President may take disciplinary action. Penalty may
include, but is not limited to, reprimand or recommendation to the President, to suspend with
or without pay, or termination. If the President’s decision is to terminate a tenured employee,
s/he will utilize the process described in the Education Law Section 2587, and the process
described in the Board of Trustees By-Laws, Section VC, 1a and 1b. If the President’s
decision is to terminate a part-time employee who is a bargaining unit member and who holds
a certificate of continuous employment (CCE), the College and Union will refer the case to an
outside arbitrator for final and binding determination.
The OP's will have something like this as well. The employer gave him his due process under the agreement and he lost and the person responsible had to decide on the proper discipline. They choose to craft a discipline that included the OP giving up some of his rights under the contract. Since the alternative was something that was probably worse, the OP wisely agreed. Now, he wants all the prior issue to disappear. While reading the contract is necessary (As some government employers may not allow any crafting of discipline.) for a correct answer, in the vast number of collective bargaining agreements out there, the "forced" waiving of rights is perfectly acceptable if the impetus was from appropriately following the disciplinary procedure.
 

bullied_steward

Junior Member
Thanks for the input. Here is the section of the contract that I think applies to my situation
==============================
It is agreed that no member of the Union shall be required, or requested or
allowed to make an individual contract, agreement, stipulation, or affidavit related to hours,
wages, working conditions, or Union activities or any other matters which may affect his
employment rights with the District.
==============================
Would you interpret that as prohibiting me from signing ay my rights to progressive discipline as stated in the contract?
If I can't get the document removed from my file Is it at least unenforcable?
Thanks.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
Thanks for the input. Here is the section of the contract that I think applies to my situation
==============================
It is agreed that no member of the Union shall be required, or requested or
allowed to make an individual contract, agreement, stipulation, or affidavit related to hours,
wages, working conditions, or Union activities or any other matters which may affect his
employment rights with the District.
==============================
Would you interpret that as prohibiting me from signing ay my rights to progressive discipline as stated in the contract?
If I can't get the document removed from my file Is it at least unenforcable?
Thanks.
No. That has to do with individual bargaining and not with discipline. Show us the discipline section.
 

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