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Unions Free Speech Employee Rights

Littler

Rhode Island Bans “Captive Audience” Meetings

Littler on

On July 2, 2025, Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee signed into law House Bill No. 5506 SUB A.  With the stroke of a pen, Rhode Island joined the growing list of states to ban mandatory employer-sponsored meetings regarding...more

Vedder Price

Recent Litigation in California Challenges New Captive Audience Meeting Bill

Vedder Price on

On December 31, 2024, the California Chamber of Commerce and California Restaurant Association (CRA) filed a complaint in federal court seeking to enjoin enforcement of Senate Bill (S.B.) 399, signed into law by Governor...more

Proskauer - California Employment Law

Business Groups’ Lawsuit Slams California Ban on “Captive Audience” Meetings

As we reported here, California’s Senate Bill (S.B.) 399, took effect on January 1, 2025. This law prohibits employers from requiring employees to attend meetings about the company’s opinions on political or religious...more

Proskauer - Labor Relations Update

NLRB Delivers Ban on Captive-Audience Meetings in Amazon Case

Throwing out 75 Years of precedent in a single decision, on November 13, 2024, in Amazon.com Services LLC, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) the Board overruled the seminal case of Babcock & Wilcox Co., 77 NLRB...more

Kilpatrick

Illinois Passes Law Limiting 'Captive Audience' Meetings

Kilpatrick on

On July 31, 2024, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 3649, the “Worker Freedom of Speech Act,” (the “Act”) which prohibits employers from using “captive audience” meetings with employees to discuss an...more

FordHarrison

New Law Alert! Illinois Freedom of Speech Act and Limitations on Union (and Other Meetings)

FordHarrison on

Real World Impact: The newly enacted Illinois Freedom of Speech Act prohibits employers in Illinois from requiring employees to participate in employer-sponsored meetings if the meeting is designed to communicate an...more

Littler

New York District Court Enjoins Enforcement of Law Limiting Employer Speech During Organizing Campaigns

Littler on

A federal judge in New York recently cast doubt on the validity of state laws that seek to restrict employer speech in connection with union organizing. In New York State Vegetable Growers Association, Inc. v. Letitia James,...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Connecticut Poised to Ban ‘Captive Audience’ Meetings and Expand Employee Free Speech Protections

Recently, the Connecticut General Assembly sent Public Act No. 22-24 (Substitute Senate Bill No. 163), “An Act Protecting Employee Freedom of Speech and Conscience,” to Governor Ned Lamont’s desk for signature. It is unclear...more

Franczek P.C.

NLRB General Counsel Urges Board to Find Captive Audience Speeches are Unlawful

Franczek P.C. on

For decades, employers have been permitted to hold mandatory meetings or “captive audience speeches” in response to union organizing campaigns to present the company’s position on unionization. On April 7, 2022, the National...more

FordHarrison

NLRB's Top Prosecutor Seeks to Muzzle Employers by Banning Employee Meetings

FordHarrison on

Executive Summary: In an April 7, 2022 memo from the NLRB, General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo (“Abruzzo”) announced her intent to challenge employers’ long-standing practice of holding informational meetings regarding union...more

Littler

NLRB General Counsel Abruzzo Seeks to Limit Long-Standing Employer Free Speech Right

Littler on

On April 7, 2022, General Counsel (GC) Jennifer A. Abruzzo released Memorandum 22-04, The Right to Refrain from Captive Audience and other Mandatory Meetings. As set forth in the memorandum, GC Abruzzo will urge the National...more

Proskauer - Labor Relations Update

No, Unions Do Not Have A Free Speech Right To Engage In Unlawful Secondary Boycott Activity, Federal Appeals Court Rules

On October 28, 2019, the Ninth Circuit, following in the footsteps of the D.C. Circuit and the Second Circuit, affirmed an order entered by the NLRB confirming that prohibitions on secondary boycotts under Section...more

Franczek P.C.

Unfettered Free Speech or Profane Outbursts? NLRB Invites Input to Determine Scope of Section 7 Protection

Franczek P.C. on

The National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) is inviting input “to aid the Board in reconsidering the standards for determining whether profane outbursts and offensive statements of a racial or sexual nature, made in the...more

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