• FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • LOGIN
  • SIGN UP FREE

CFO Daily News

  • FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Payroll
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Finance Technology
  • More
    • Employment Law
    • Strategy
    • Policy and Culture
    • Fraud
    • Payments and Transactions
    • Budgeting and Forecasting
    • Banking
    • Staff Management
    • Cost Control
    • Supply Chain
    • IT

Confidentiality policies: What court says about pay info

Jared Bilski
by Jared Bilski
April 10, 2014
  • Payroll
  • Policy and culture
2 minute read
  • SHARE ON

Chances are your confidentiality policy doesn’t specifically ban employees from talking about their paychecks with one another, but it can still potentially get you in legal trouble regarding pay-related info.

That’s one of the important takeaways from a recent court ruling on the scope of a company’s confidentiality policy.

Financial and personnel info

In Flex Frac Logistics LLC, et al., v. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the case centered around the legality Flex Frac’s “confidentiality” policy.

Flex Frac required all employees to sign an at-will employment agreement that included a confidentiality policy that prohibited workers from disclosing any confidential info, including “financial information, including costs, prices … personnel information and documents.”

When an employee violated the policy, she was promptly fired. Following her termination, the employee filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB.

Her claim: Flex Frac’s confidentiality rule was unlawful because it restricted her right to engage in activities that are protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This section of the NLRA is meant to protect workers and allow them to discuss the terms and conditions of their employment, including their wages.

Because Flex Frac’s policy prohibited the discussion of both “financial information” and “personnel information,” the NLRB said workers could:

“reasonably believe that they are prohibited from discussing wages or other terms and conditions of employment with nonemployees, such as union representatives — and activity protections by Section 7 of the Act [the NLRA].”

Not just for unions

Many times employers tend to ignore cases involving the NLRB. After all, if they don’t have a union, it doesn’t really apply to them, right? Not necessarily — particularly in this case. Employers can’t discourage workers from discussing their wages in any way — especially not via a policy that categorizes pay as “confidential info” that is forbidden from being discussed in the workplace.

The lesson in this case is clear: Avoid any overly broad language in your policies where pay can be interpreted as “confidential info” that employees are forbidden from discussing. In addition, you may want to explicitly carve out or remove pay or benefits info when drafting the language of your confidentiality policy.

This post originally ran on our sister site, HR Benefits Alert.

Keep Up To Date with the Latest Finance News

With CFO Daily News arriving in your inbox, you will never miss critical stories on accounting, benefits, payroll & employment law strategies.

Sign up for a free CFO Daily News membership and get our newsletter!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
CFO Daily News Logo
  • ABOUT CFO DAILY NEWS
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • WRITE FOR US
  • CONTACT
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Payroll
  • Policy and Culture
  • Employment Law
  • Fraud
  • Finance Technology
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Strategy
  • Payments and Transactions
  • Budgeting and Forecasting
  • Banking
  • Staff Management
  • Cost Control
  • Supply Chain
  • IT

CFO Daily News, part of the SuccessFuel Network, provides the latest Finance and employment law news for Finance professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day’s headlines, CFO Daily News delivers actionable insights, helping Finance execs understand what Finance trends mean to their business.

Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Copyright © 2021 SuccessFuel

WELCOME BACK!

Enter your username and password below to log in

Forget Your Username or Password?

Reset Password

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Log In

preloader