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Unions The National Labor Relations Act Free Speech

Littler

Rhode Island Bans “Captive Audience” Meetings

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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

Genova Burns LLC

Fourth Circuit Issues Guidance On Employer Speech During Organizing Campaigns

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A recent Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge panel enforced part and declined to enforce another part of an NLRB ruling that an employer violated the National Labor Relations Act by telling employees that the union’s...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Mandatory Captive Rules in Limbo for California Employers – 2 Federal Lawsuits Challenge SB 399 and Looming Issue Before the NLRB

As discussed in our recent article, the introduction of SB 399 in California (approved and added as California Labor Code section 1137) sparked significant discussion and concern among California employers with union...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

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Showdown Over Workplace Speech – Litigation Filed to Enjoin SB 399 Prohibiting Mandatory Meetings During Union Organizing

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On January 1, 2025, Senate (SB) Bill 399, officially went into effect in California. California joined other states, including Illinois, Connecticut, Hawaii, New York, and Oregon, in enacting statutes that prohibit “captive...more

UB Greensfelder LLP

NLRB Outlaws Captive Audience Meetings

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What employers should do to avoid violation - On November 13, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “the Board”) ruled that captive audience meetings— mandatory employer-sponsored meetings attempting to...more

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

NLRB Bans Mandatory Informational Meetings, Overturns 76-Year-Old Precedent

On November 13, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision prohibiting the practice of holding mandatory employee meetings to discuss the employer’s views on unionization....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

Fisher Phillips

The End of Mandatory Captive Audience Meetings? 5 Tips for Adapting to the NLRB’s Latest Departure from Decades of Past Precedent

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The National Labor Relations Board just banned mandatory employee meetings for purposes of discussing the subject of union representation – so-called “captive audience” meetings – and placed new restrictions on an employer’s...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

“Captive Audience” Bans: Employers Should Be Aware of This Trend

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As organized labor activity has been on the rise in recent years and stories about union-related matters have become regular news, labor relations questions have ever-increasingly become front-of-mind for employers. It is...more

Littler

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

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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

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Held Captive No More: New York Enacts Legislation Prohibiting Mandatory Meetings Regarding Employers’ Political (But Really Union)...

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Seyfarth Synopsis: On September 6, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law legislation that, effective immediately, prohibits employers from disciplining employees who refuse to participate in meetings concerning...more

Fisher Phillips

New York, Minnesota, and Maine Ban “Captive Audience Meetings” – But the Fight is Just Beginning

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Effective August 1, Minnesota now prohibits employers from “captive audience meetings” – that is, requiring, under threat of discharge, discipline, or some other penalty, employee attendance or participation in...more

Littler

Littler Lightbulb – June Employment Appellate Roundup

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This Littler Lightbulb highlights some of the more significant employment law developments at the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeal in the last month. At the Supreme Court...more

Fisher Phillips

NLRB General Counsel Doubles Down on Captive Audience Meetings in Response to Legal Challenge

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As you may know, the NLRB’s top prosecutor issued a memo last year seeking to bar employers from convening employee meetings on working time to address union representation unless they provide employees specific assurances...more

Snell & Wilmer

'Any Person' May File Unfair Labor Practice Charges With the NLRB

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In a recent decision, FDRLST Media, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board (No. 20-3434 & 3492 3rd Cir. May 20, 2022), the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (“Court”) denied enforcement of an order of the...more

Harris Beach Murtha PLLC

Connecticut Governor Signs Law Prohibiting Employer-Employee “Captive Audience” Communications

On May 17, 2022, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law the so-called “captive audience” bill (Senate Bill 163), which prohibits employers from requiring their employees to (a) attend employer-sponsored meetings that...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

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

NLRB General Counsel Seeks to Reinstate Radical Standard for Union Recognition and Restrict Employer Free Speech During Corporate...

In contravention of decades-old precedent, employers may be required to recognize unions without a secret ballot election, thereby denying employers the opportunity to protect the private choice of their employees. The...more

Franczek P.C.

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

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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

ArentFox Schiff

Rough Waters Ahead: NLRB General Counsel Seeks to Bar Employer-Mandated Meetings to Discuss Union Organizing

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Buckle up, it’s about to get choppy. Employers sailing in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) waters have come to expect rough seas. By one estimate, the Board overturned more than 4,500 cumulative years of...more

FordHarrison

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

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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

Fisher Phillips

NLRB’s Top Sheriff Calls for Abrupt End to 75 Years of Lawful “Captive Audience” Meetings

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The NLRB’s top prosecutor just issued a memo which seeks to bar employers from convening employee meetings on working time to address union representation unless they provide employees specific assurances that participation...more

Littler

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

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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

Jackson Lewis P.C.

D.C. Circuit Flips NLRB; Employer’s Alleged ‘Baseless’ Statements Of Opinion Lawful

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“Absent threats or promises, § 8(c) [of the National Labor Relations Act] unambiguously protects ‘any views, argument tor opinion’ – even those that the agency finds misguided, flimsy, or daft,” the D.C. Circuit has held....more

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