Does Dan Gilbert's company, Quicken Loans, go too far in restricting what its workers can talk about it?
The National Labor Relations Board in Detroit says it does, and has filed a formal complaint which will go to trial before a federal administrative law judge on Nov. 2.
John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press reports:
The Quicken employee rules, known as the Big Book, is a set of internal regulations that cautions workers against speaking to the media and restricts any other conduct the company deems damaging to its interests.
The NLRB complaint against Quicken says its worker rules violate the National Labor Relations Act that permits workers to discuss pay and other policies for the purposes of organizing for collective bargaining. The agency is not seeking monetary damages but wants Quicken to rewrite its employee rules and educate employees about their rights under the law.
Quicken Loans says it rules are not overly restrictive and are based on common sense. It calls the NLRB complaint absurd.
Gallagher goes on to write:
The NLRB case stems from a complaint by a former Quicken employee, Hugh MacEachern, 61, of Taylor. MacEachern was hired at Quicken in July 2013 after working there for several months as a temporary employee. He was fired in December 2014 after he told Quicken he was speaking with the Communications Workers of America about starting a union at Quicken. He claims Quicken fired him as retribution.
But Terry Morgan, the director of the NLRB's regional office in Detroit, said her office, after investigating, has declined to file a case over MacEachern’s firing. But it did file a complaint against Quicken over its employee handbook rules. Morgan said MacEachern is likely to be a witness for the government in the upcoming hearing.