Open up your employee handbook and take a look at your confidentiality & privacy policies. Now take a look at any of your policies regarding government investigations. Do they sound like the policies Macy's? (see below). If so, no parade for you according to a recent NLRB recent ruling.
An administrative law judge recently found several provisions in the Macy’s handbook to be unlawful, as employees would reasonably read them to restrict protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act.
The judge found that the handbooks’ restrictions on the release of personal information of the Macy’s employees, including their names and home and office contacts, “obviously restricts employees in their Section 7 rights to discuss their terms and conditions of employment with fellow employees, as well as their ability to notify a union of other employees of the Respondent who might be interested in participating in the union movement.” The judge continued: “The fact that this restriction was repeated so many times in the Handbook further enforces the belief that employees could reasonably believe that it interferes with their Section 7 rights.”
In addition, the judge found the handbook’s restrictions on the use of information regarding customers and vendors over-broad. Moreover, the judge invalidated a handbook provision prohibiting the use of the Macy’s “logo or other intellectual property” by others, finding: “[T]his prohibition could also be reasonably understood to limit its employees, or a union, from publicizing a dispute with the Respondent by employing its logo in its distributed information. This could be an effective means of publicizing a dispute as the Respondent’s logo is well known and easily recognized.” The judge also found that the Macy’s handbook violated the NLRA by requiring employees to notify Macy's management prior to participating in a governmental investigation.
Accordingly, as a remedy, the judge ordered Macy’s to rescind these provisions, notify all of its employees nationwide that it has done so and that these provisions are no longer in effect, and post a notice to its employees to this effect.
PRACTICE TIP: Employers should be mindful of the Board’s recent crusade against over-broad handbook provisions, and should review their policies—including those not typically associated with NLRB scrutiny (such as confidentiality and privacy policies). It's all fair game, and a general disclaimer may not be enough to save the day.
The Macy’s privacy policy provided:
The Company has certain personal data of its present and former associates, customers and vendors. It respects the privacy of this personal data and is committed to handling this data responsibly and using it only as authorized for legitimate business purposes. What is considered personal data? It is information such as names, home and office contact information … and other similar data. … We have a strict obligation to use such personal data in a manner that: … Respects the privacy of our co-workers and our Company’s customers and vendors.
The Macy’s use of company systems policy provided:
Any information that is not generally available to the public that relates to the Company or the Company’s customers, employees, vendors, contractors, service providers, Systems, etc., that you receive or to which you are given access during your employment or while you are performing services for the Company is classified as “Confidential” or “Internal Use Only” under the Macy’s Information Security Policy. … Company maintains certain information regarding its present and former associates, customers and vendors. Company respects the privacy of this data where it includes personally-identifiable information (“Personal Data”). Personal Data includes names, home and office contact information, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, account numbers and other similar data.
No comments:
Post a Comment