Feds Accuse Quicken Loans of Violating Workers’ Right to Free Speech
The NLRB alleges Quicken Loans unlawfully restricts workers from discussing pay, organizing for collective bargaining.
The National Labor Relations Board is accusing the nation’s second-largest mortgage lender, Quicken Loans, of overly-restricting employees’ right to free speech.
The case could help determine what workers can say publicly about the companies they work for.
Like many employers Detroit-based Quicken Loans set up policies that warn employees against talking to the media or pursuing conduct the company believes could damage its reputation.
But the NLRB has filed a complaint charging that the mortgage lender’s rules are so restrictive they violate federal law because they prohibit employees from discussing wages or the possibility of organizing for collective bargaining.
The government says should be allowed both in person and through social media.
A spokesperson for Quicken Loans counters that the company “stands firmly behind its common sense employment policies.”
A federal judge in Detroit will hear arguments in the case in November.
