Can an employer force you to make a statement against another employee?

Question

I just got suspended from work. Come to find out that a coworker was threatened with insubordination and termination if they did not write a statement against me. I denied the charges and they suspended me because they say I lied to them.

The only reason they have a statement against me is because the other person feared for their job if they did not write it. Is this legal? We are a union shop and the other person was never informed of their rights to have a union rep with them during the questioning.

Answer 1

its not legal for anyone to force you to write a statement, file a case in small claims court for defamation of character.

Answer 2

An employer can not force any employee to do something they do not feel comfortable with. If this other person felt intimidated and feared that he may lose his job then he should have written that statement next to his signature on the statement. What did you get suspended for?

Answer 3

The basic important question is did you do what they said you did, you denying it doesnt make it so,if you did it and the other employee knew you did,then managment has every right to tell them that they are going to get fired too if they dont tell what they know..its probably in your employee handbook,it is most places, "failing to report a violation your aware of is grounds for disciplinary action" so if they knew you did something managment has every right to tell them,"give a statement or else"....if you 100% innocent and mangement is making them lie ,then thats improper and you have a claim, but if managment is making them give a statement of true events your wrong and they are in the right.

Answer 4

This is wrong.  File a grievance with your union.

Answer 5

Come on man, management guys are slime.  This is what they're taught to do and it works on people who don't know their rights.  File a grievance protesting your suspension and tell the jerk you work with to write one too redacting his statement.  Tell him to put that he was under duress when he wrote it because they threatened his job.  Lastly, it's not their job to inform him of his rights, they'll do whatever they want as long as he doesn't request a steward to be there.

Answer 6

This sounds like a messy situation. Get a lawyer, they can tell you your rights as a union worker.