You have the right to union representation any time you face a meeting or discussion with a supervisor that could lead to discipline. Your employer usually has no obligation to inform you of your right to have a union representative present. You must ask for your rights! Your employer must give you time to contact a union representative and allow the representative to be present at the meeting.

“Weingarten” rules apply when a supervisor is questioning an employee to obtain information the employee reasonably believes could be used as grounds for discipline. If the meeting is solely to inform about a discipline without an investigation, this rule doesn’t apply. Here’s what you can say: “If this meeting is an investigation that could in any way lead to discipline or termination, I request that my steward or union
representative be present before continuing.”

Your employer may:

(1) agree to your request and wait for the union representative to arrive or reschedulethe meeting;

(2) deny your request and end the meeting immediately;

(3) give you the choice of ending the meeting or continuing without representation, or

(4) deny the request and continue to ask questions. You should then repeatedly but respectfully ask for union representation and protest the denial of your rights.