Recently the company I work for enacted an odious policy. Any employee caught discussing the details of his/her compensation with any other employee gets terminated immediately.
I was discussing this policy with another friend and he told me that his employer had enacted a similar policy and then reversed it quite sharply and suddenly. Seems they’d had a legal scare of some sort, apparanently someone in my state had sued their employer and gotten them in some trouble over the policy. I have no idea of the specifics of the suit, and only a general idea of the timeframe
I know we have some lawyers and other smart folks lurking around here, so I was hoping one of them could give me some research pointers, links, or just a general idea of how to go about researching something like this. I’d like to research the details and present them to the HR people where I work so as to hopefully reverse the policy which I find extremely distasteful.
Most lawyers do all their legal research over Westlaw or Lexis, both of which are (extremely expensive) subscription services. What state do you live in?
You can try Findlaw, but I don’t know how helpful it is (start with “For the Public” - “Employees’ Rights”). You might also try your state bar’s website, they sometimes have links to useful sites. You might also find what you’re looking for in a book–various publishers put out an “Every Person’s Guide to the Law” type book, and that might help.
Hey, thanks, this findlaw thingy is neat. I’ve already found a list of Nebraska Supreme Court and Appeals court decisions going back to 1997. Hopefully if I do enough digging I’ll find what I’m looking for.
Or, you could always call an attorney (particularly one specializing in employment). Take a copy of the new policy in, let 'em read it, they’ll take about five or ten minutes to tell you if it’s worthwhile or not, and only bill you for 20 :)
Try googling it - employment law cases tend to be picked up by papers.
I think an employer would have serious difficulty arguing termination “for cause” in those circumstances, regardless of what their policy is – that said, employers can always dismiss you with notice without needing a reason, and if you’re an “at will” employee (without contractual/union severance entitlements), you don’t get severance in any event (although you would remain eligible for UI, unlike if you’re dismissed for cause).
