The National Labor Relations Board issued an Order on May 3, 2017 in which it made clear that the Board does not wish to exercise its discretionary authority to expand Weingarten Rights to non-union employees via rule making. The potential for the expansion of the Weingarten Rights to non-union employees has been in place ever since the Board issued its position in 2004 in the case of IBM Corporation, 341 NLRB 1288, whereby it limited Weingarten Rights to union shops. However, this is an issue which the Board has flip-flopped on during most of its existence. At times it has allowed Weingarten to be applied in a non-union setting, and then changed its mind and reverted back to the current situation where Weingarten only applies in a union environment. Regardless of the motivation behind making this determination, it is good news that the Board, at this point in time, has decided not to expand Weingarten to the vast majority of the workplaces.
