Quicken Loans under fire: Can firms prohibit employee complaints?
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed a complaint that accuses the mortgage giant Quicken Loans of overly restricting its employees' free speech and has called on the company to rewrite its rules.
The complaint is scheduled to go before a federal administrative law judge in Detroit, where the company is headquartered, on聽Nov. 2.
that the case 鈥渃ould have long-ranging effects on what workers are allowed to say about their companies on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.鈥�
Quicken's employee handbook, known as the Big Book, cautions workers against speaking to reporters and restricts activity the company deems damaging to its interests.
Quicken denies the accusations and plans to fight the complaint, which聽company spokesman Aaron Emerson described as 鈥渃ompletely absurd.鈥�
"Quicken Loans stands firmly behind its common-sense employment聽policies,鈥� he told The Associated Press, adding that the company 鈥渨ill fight this baseless聽case and strongly believes justice will prevail.鈥�
The complaint says Quicken鈥檚 employee rules violate the National Labor聽Relations Act. Established in 1935, the law grants workers the right聽to discuss pay and other workplace policies for the purpose of聽collective bargaining. Rather than seeking monetary damages, the NLRB聽wants the company to rewrite its handbook.
The Detroit Free Press reports that the complaint against Quicken聽highlights the NLRB鈥檚 recent focus on free speech issues. The federal聽agency settled earlier this year with Wendy's International, the聽fast-food chain, over employee rules it says restricted speech both聽face-to-face and on social media.
In a聽March 18聽memo obtained by the Free Press, Richard Griffin, the NLRB鈥檚 general counsel, said聽that "employees have a ... right to discuss wages, hours, and other聽terms and conditions of employment with fellow employees, as well as聽with non-employees, such as union representatives."
Marick Masters, the director of labor studies at Wayne State聽University, said the NLRB usually allows companies to protect their聽trade secrets but not to ban the discussion of more routine matters聽such as salaries.
"Their tendency is to take a pretty dim view of policies that are聽over-broad," Professor Masters told The Associated Press. "If you tell an employee that they聽can't complain to other employees about their working conditions,聽you're going to get in trouble for that. If you tell an employee that聽they can't talk to people on the outside about their working聽conditions, you're going to get in trouble for that."
This report includes material from The Associated Press.
