Economic Dignity

Right to Talk to Coworkers

Workers have the right to speak with their colleagues about wages, benefits, and working conditions. When workers have access to this information, they are more empowered to advocate for themselves or seek outside counsel to address mistreatment. Employers cannot bar workers from talking to each other about these issues, nor can they retaliate against workers for having these conversations.

NEW REPORT The Right to Talk to Co-Workers and Management About Working Conditions: A Study of Enforcement at the NLRB

Executive Summary

FACT SHEET: The Importance of Protecting Worker Voice and Concerted Activity

Read our piece in Slate: Elon Musk Smacked Down for Violating Free Speech Pillar

Noncompete Clauses

Employers use noncompete clauses to severely restrict employees’ ability to seek reasonable employment elsewhere. Noncompetes impose extreme hardships on workers, such as having to move to another city to take a new job or being forced to work in a different field altogether. Most employees do not have the financial ability to fight noncompetes, which leaves them with limited options and little protection. Noncompetes have been shown to lower wages for all workers, not just those subject to the clause.

There is no defensible reason for any worker, particularly a low-wage worker, to be permanently bound to their employer. The Federal Trade Commission agrees and is considering formally banning noncompetes in almost all circumstances. The FTC’s decision is expected in the Spring of 2024.

Ending the Exploitation of Gig Workers

For hard-won workers’ rights to be meaningful, workers must have access to them—including minimum wage, paid medical leave, protections from wage theft, anti-discrimination laws, and occupational safety protections. However, an increasingly large subset of workers is excluded from these laws and basic workers’ rights. The misclassification of gig workers as “independent contractors” rather than employees leads to unfair labor practices, financial instability, and racial discrimination.

This exploitation disproportionately affects Black and Latinx workers, who comprise 42% of workers on apps like Uber and Postmates. It’s long past time for corporations to do the right thing—give workers the pay, benefits, and protections they deserve and that they should have provided all along.

Download The Gig Economy By The Numbers, NIWR’s presentation on trends in the gig economy and the harms workers experience.

Combatting Discrimination

America has made real progress towards workplaces that are diverse, equitable, and inclusive, but much work remains. Without proactive efforts to break down barriers that have traditionally excluded women and people of color from opportunities at work, discrimination will operate unchecked. Recent research confirms that such discrimination continues to occur at major employers that do not have systematic, proactive approaches to hiring.

Unfortunately, there are some who are urging companies to back away from the proactive efforts to break down barriers and comply with anti-discrimination laws. These voices are pushing the Alice-in-Wonderland view that efforts to combat discrimination are themselves discrimination. The Institute is urging companies to not back away from efforts at diversity and inclusion and pointing to the increased litigation risk that will result if proactive efforts at combatting discrimination are abandoned.

NIWR Requests SEC Investigation of Goldman Sachs for Securities Fraud