Investigative Interviews
Article 4 (3) (b) of the Master Agreement states ...
During the month of June, Management will notify employees of the right to
have Union representation at any Management-initiated investigation that the
employee feels may result in disciplinary action. Management will include the
information sheet entitled "Employee Rights and Responsibilities in Administrative
Investigative Interviews" in the annual "Weingarten" reminder notice to employees.
Management will also provide it to new employees and regional special
agents for their information and use, and will permanently post the notification
on employee information bulletin boards and HRM Web site.
The checklist is no longer mandatory. Since the checklist is no longer mandatory, you must be especially diligent about reminding employees about their rights in administrative investigative interviews. I have been advised that stewards
"could certainly advocate for use of the checklist at the time of an investigation if that official thought it was appropriate."This is the Agency response we received to our information request for the checklist.
The Union has requested items that were part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) titled, "Employee’s Rights and Responsibilities in Administrative Investigative Interviews" that was in effect until the 2005 Master Agreement was renegotiated. The information the Union is seeking is from this MOU that is now "moot" based on the completion of the Parties 2010 Master Agreement. Specifically, under the Parties MOU titled, "Transition from 2005 to 2010 Master Agreement" dated October 7, 2010, Paragraph, "SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENTS-ARTICLE 11.4.c., the MOU requiring that an employee be provided the information sheet and checklist "who are asked to participate in a formal administrative investigative interviews" is no longer valid. Some of the MOUs provisions are incorporated into Article 4, "Employee Rights" section 3, "Employee Rights During Investigations". Bottom line: the Agency is no longer required to provide an employee participating in an administrative investigation a copy of "The Administrative Investigative Check-List (pages 1 and 2)" requested by the Union. All BUEs annually receive the information sheet titled, "Employee Rights and Responsibilities in Administrative Investigative Interviews" with the "Weingarten" reminder.
A written statement was recently requested of one of our union members. The Agency states that the written statement our union member provided at management’s request was
"part of an administrative fact finding (required by policy) to determine if misconduct occurred not a formal administrative investigation." The union members statement was quoted in the penalty section of a Notice of Proposed Suspension. Don't be fooled. The FSLA has ruled that if an employee is required to provide a statement, it is an administrative investigative interview.