Conversations in the workplace should be kept professional. Sure, you may show colleagues adorable photos of your children or a video of your puppy while grabbing a cup of coffee, but most of your conversations in the office should probably surround the job itself.
Some employers, however, like to draw a line designating what exactly workers are allowed to discuss. And after one manager at a Planet Fitness attempted to control conversations among his staff, they quickly reminded him of their rights. Below, you’ll findthe postsbetween him and his employees that went viral, as well as some of the replies invested readers shared online.
One manager at a Planet Fitness in Kentucky decided that he no longer wanted his employees discussing their wages
Image credits:Craig Adderley / pexels (not the actual photo)
So he informed them of his new “policy” via this notice
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But the employees refused to comply, and instead responded with a reminder of their rights
The note reads as follows:
“Yo Jer-Bear:
Seeing as you’re a manager in the great illustrious world of Planet Fitness gym franchises, it may behoove you to become familiar with the laws pertaining to it. Springling legalese and word-salad across an 8.5×11 paper you printed does not a legal doc make.
Since research ain’t your forte, I’ve included a link to the pertinent documents on the left, right, top, and bottom of this paper. Kinda hard to miss.
Needless to say, you can’t legally tell us not to discuss wages in the good ol’ U.S. of A. We will continue to do so.
Furthermore, for the sake of making this a little more streamlined, shall we?
-Cue workers writing out their hourly wage-
The rest of your “subordinates” could not be reached, but they’re welcome to post their wage above.
Love,
$10.50 an hour Shelly”
Employees in the United States are entitled to discuss wages with colleagues if they choose to do so
Image credits:Karolina Grabowska / pexels (not the actual photo)
While some managers might like to believe that they have complete control over their employees while they’re at work, there are certain things that they can’t actually ban. In the United States, according to theNational Labor Relations Act(NLRA), employees are entitled to discuss wages with other employees if they wish to.
“Wages are a vital term and condition of employment, and discussions of wages are often preliminary to organizing or other actions for mutual aid or protection,” the National Labor Relations Board explains on their site. But if they’re not interested in engaging in these conversations, employees are also entitled tonotparticipate in discussions about their wages. It’s completely up to them.
If workers do decide to talk about wages, it is illegal for their employers to retaliate or punish them in any way. While the manager in this post pointed out that Kentucky is anat-will state, meaning that employees may be terminated at any time for nearly any reason, workers cannot be fired in ways that violate federal or state laws or statutes.
Limiting conversations about salaries can allow discrimination to go unchecked
Image credits:Cherrydeck /unsplash (not the actual photo)
Having conversations about your paycheck may seem harmless, but apparently, many employers would say otherwise. According to a survey fromIndeed, 27% of employees are hesitant to discuss their wages because they’re worried about getting in trouble, and 38% admit that discussing their salary feels taboo.Forbeshas also reported that a whopping 60% of tech workers say they’ve been told not to discuss their pay.
As far as why managers try to silence their employees, Donna Ballman, an employee-side employment attorney and author ofStand Up for Yourself Without Getting Fired, toldMonsterthat companies don’t want employees to catch on if they’re being paid unfairly.
“Employers hate it when employees discuss salaries because it exposes discrimination and other unfair pay practices,” Ballman says. “If your employer has a written policy or contract prohibiting salary discussions, you can report them to the National Labor Relations Board.”
One way to cut down on discussions about wages is to simply pay employees fairly
Image credits:Mina Rad /unsplash (not the actual photo)
To prevent employees from wanting to discuss their salaries,Insperityrecommends paying workers fairly in the first place. If they’re all satisfied with how much they make and aren’t earning less than their peers due to their gender or race, there should be no issues about their wages anyway. If they want to have a conversation surrounding their earnings, they might quickly realize that there’s nothing to discuss, and they’ll move on from the issue.
After the notices went viral, a discussion erupted online
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Readers discussed the importance of wage transparency and applauded the employees for standing up to their manager
Gabija Saveiskyte
Justinas Keturka
Indrė Lukošiūtė
Work & Money
