Topics covered in the interview included:
For background, Osborne asked Meares to discuss the scope of the NLRB and some of the areas it covers concerning employee rights. The NLRB enforces the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects the right of employees to engage in concerted activity, even in a non-union setting.
“This essentially means that employees can band together to do what they believe is best to improve their working conditions in terms of employment,” said Meares.
The NLRB frequently handles cases from employees who were fired for discussing wages. It is also not uncommon for the NLRB to receive complaints when employee handbooks prohibit certain employee rights, such as the right to unionize or band together.
Employees have the right to complain about benefits and wages to their supervisors. Discussing these issues with co-workers and seeking support for a walk-out is also permissible.
“In North and South Carolina, our bread and butter is concerted activity,” noted Meares. “We get a lot of these types of cases.”
A person in his 30s who demanded compensation for alleged foreign substances in cup noodles and the absence of meat in stir-fried pork was sentenced to prison in both the first trial and the appel...