Know Your Rights

Know Your Rights: A Mini-Guide to Teacher’s Rights

By Brianna Chenevey

One of the benefits of being a member of OGEA is that your rights and privileges as a District employee are protected under District policy and State law, including legal consultation. All CTA members have the legal right to a safe and healthy workplace. Part of your site rep’s duty is to make sure that you, as an OGEA member, are represented fairly. Additionally, it is important that you have the necessary resources to help you understand, preserve, and enhance your rights.

The Mini-Guide to Teacher’s Rights provides a guide to certain rights that California educators have, guaranteed by law, when on the job. It provides a list of rights that teachers have when working in the classroom and with administrators. 

The guide also includes the following best practices:

• Keep accurate and on-going records of student discipline.
• Take and keep notes of all parent and administrator meetings.
• Be cautious with what you post or share on social media.

On the back of the pamphlet, you will find your Weingarten Rights, or your rights to union representation. “If an employee has a reasonable belief that discipline or other adverse consequences may result from what he or she says, the employee has the right to request union representation. When the employee makes the request for a union representative to be present, management has three options:

1. It can stop questioning until the representation arrives.
2. It can call off the interview.
3. It can tell the employee that it will call off the interview unless the employee voluntarily gives up his/her rights to union representation (an option the employee should always refuse).”

WEINGARTEN RIGHTS

“If this discussion could in any way lead

to my being disciplined or terminated, 

or affect my personal working conditions,

I respectfully request that my union 

representative be present.”

SCOTUS Decision, NLRB v. Weingarten