Have you heard about your Weingarten rights? If you think you’re going to be terminated from your job, they may be the most important rights you have. One TikToker is on a mission to make sure you know what they are and how to invoke them.
Trial attorney Ryan Stygar offers free legal advice to viewers of his TikTok channel (@attorneyryan). His recent post about using Weingarten rights to save your job has gone viral, picking up 233,000 views and counting since it was posted on Sunday.
In the video, Stygar tells his viewers, “You gotta memorize this script because if you know when to use it, it can stop you from getting fired, and if you do get fired anyway after you say the script, you can legally nullify that termination.”
He then provides a major caveat: “This only works if you’re in a union.”
But, if that is the case, he states, “You have the right to have your union rep present with you if you’re called into a meeting that might result in you being disciplined or fired.”
“Yes, that is correct it’s called Weingarten rights I’m a shop steward and I tell the members about this,” @chupapiiiii.com confirms in the comments section of the video.
Another union member confirmed, “As a Union rep, this is facts. Weingartens are key!”
@attorneyryan Know your Weingarten rights!
♬ original sound – Attorney Ryan
Weingarten refers to the Supreme Court case of NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc., which determined that employees have the right to union representation during investigative interviews.
According to Stygar, when the meeting starts, “You say, ‘If this meeting may result in me being terminated or disciplined, I request to have my union rep present, and I will not engage in this process until I have adequate time to meet with them.'”
It’s important to invoke this phrase because H.R. and management are not required to tell you about Weingarten, Stygar says.
Samantha Moses (@ms.sammisweetheart) commented, “Wish I knew this three years ago. I’m fighting wrongful termination at the post office and I joined the union.”
Another viewer wrote, “I did this last year! I was asked to discuss a verbal exchange between coworkers. I didn’t want to get involved.”
Local 372, N.Y.C. Board of Education Employees warns that employees should be careful not to give Weingarten “more power than it has. The rights DO NOT extend to meetings where no questioning is involved, one-way communications from the supervisor to the worker or a discussion without the threat of discipline about job performance.”
That said, knowing your rights as a union member can protect you from abuse of authority.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Stygar via his website for further comment.