Section 7 Discrimination Based on Concerted Activities for Purpose of Collectively Bargaining or Other Mutual Aid or Protection

• Library: Employment Discrimination 2008

Under NLRA § 8(a)(1), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), it is an unfair labor practice for an employer “to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in” NLRA § 7,
29 U.S.C. § 157. NLRA § 7 expressly gives employees the right to engage in “concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.”

NLRA § 8(a)(1) also provides the basis for charges against employers who question employees about union activity, spy on union activity, or make threats or promises to discourage union activity. Rule changes, shift changes, restrictions on solicitation or distribution, or even a pay increase during periods of union activity may violate this section.

The protection afforded to concerted activity under NLRA § 8(a)(1) is not limited to union activity. For example, the Supreme Court has held that unrepresented (non-union) employees who engaged in a...