Whether you have in-house or outside recruiters, make clear what they can and cannot say to your employees. On March 11, 2013, an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) for the National Labor Relations Board made the recommendation that Aerotek, Inc., an employee staffing company, violated the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) when its recruiters told employees not to discuss their wages with each other despite that not being company policy. Last year, the NLRB had found that Aerotek violated the NLRA by having a confidentiality clause barring employees from discussing wages. Aerotek scrapped the confidentiality clause. Aerotek argued that the recruiters were not acting on behalf of the company but were merely requesting a personal favor from the employees to make their jobs easier. The ALJ did not buy the argument. The ALJ said that the recruiters were acting as agents of Aerotek and the employees believed that the recruiters were conveying company policy. The recommendation required that Aerotek post a notice as a remedy for this particular violation stating: “WE WILL NOT tell employees that they are not to discuss wages with others.”
