Hi everyone. It's kinda lengthy so hopefully people stick around.
First, a couple of my coworkers were talking to each other, and one of them let it be known that she got a $2 raise recently. All the other people who were in on the conversation were upset because this particular coworker doesn't do her job correctly. We work in the healthcare industry. She regularly lies in patients charts, IE: Will pull OCT's from the last time they were in, to this time they are in, without checking their eyes. OCT's detect problems such as Macular Holes, Glaucoma, Central Retinopathy and more. So it's VERY important we get a new OCT every year for our older patients, but instead of doing a new one, she just pulls the results from last years to this year. As you can probably guess, this doesn't help us monitor these very serious conditions at all. She was caught doing that a few months ago when she very first started at the company. So naturally, the others were upset to hear that she got a raise when they have been here for 7+ years doing their actual job, while this new girl lies and potentially puts patients life in danger.
My friend, who was apart of the original conversation decided that this was the time to ask for a raise, something she has never done before. She went to her manager, and brought up the fact that our coworker got the raise, and immediately, her manager blew up. She started saying that it's a violation of company policy to talk about pay with other staff members, and that she will be written up for talking about pay. Her manager tried to get her to tell her who was all involved in the conversation, and what all was said. My friend didn't tell her anything, and walked out of the meeting. Upon my friend telling me this, i told her that it is illegal, everything that her manager did, and sent her links explaining Employee Rights.
She had a sit down a few days later with one of the owners, and told her that what her manager did was illegal, and gave her a print out of the law. She said that they talked more about pay, and told her that if she is at her cap, to let her know honestly instead of stringing her along. And told them that she is in fact working on her resume and is looking for more jobs right now because our work isn't paying enough of her bills. After this interaction, the owner of the company came to her and told her “thank you for telling us that this is illegal, i actually talked to my lawyers and he also confirmed that it's illegal” (this shit knows it's illegal, it's just that no one has ever questioned it before). And said that they would “review” the employee manual that also states that employees aren't allowed to discuss pay with each other.
The same day, my own manager sent a message to me and the other people on my team to look over the employee manual and tell her once we have read it. The manual still states that we aren't allowed to discuss pay. The manual is in our work's drive folder, and is only a word document that can be edited. All they have to do is Highlight and Delete the sentence, but they haven't yet, and it's been about 5 days since the owner has admitted that he talked to his lawyer and “now knows” it's illegal, but still hasn't taken action to change the document.
I have half a mind to “reply all” to the email my manager sent to me to say that i have read the manual, and that the part where they say we can't discuss pay goes against the law and that it can be subject to action by NLRB. I truly believe that everyone deserves to know that it's wrong, hence why i would reply all. It's their rights, and employees deserve to know, and FUTHER MORE, our employer deserves to know that we know what they are doing is illegal. I'm just scared that they will retaliate. Despite me being able to prove if they did, that it IS retaliation. My whole time working here, never once have i been written up, put on an improvement plan, been in any kind of trouble, and all 1×1's with my manager, she has never once told me anything that i need to fix in my work. I am a good worker, and even though i feel like my pay could be better- for now it is paying *most* of my bills. But i don't have a child like my friend does, and i have less bills than she does. I don't know what to do, and i'm tired of feeling like we are holding businesses accountable for things they know they are doing wrong. Any suggestions?