California companies are suing to block a new state law that prohibits requiring employees to attend anti-union meetings at work.
The California Chamber of Commerce and the California Restaurant Association filed a lawsuit in federal court on New Year’s Eve, the day before the new law goes into effect, to block the new law from taking effect.
The law allows employers to discipline workers who refuse to attend workplace meetings to hear their supervisor’s “opinions on religious or political issues,” such as whether employees should form a union. is prohibited. Businesses in violation could be fined $500 per day.
Labor groups argued that these so-called locked audience meetings could intimidate workers from exercising their right to form a union. Business groups argued it interfered with employers’ right to free speech, including to discuss how political and policy developments affect the workplace.
The legislation, authored by Sen. Aisha Wahab, a Hayward Democrat, was one of organized labor’s few victories in the 2024 legislative session. California, along with about 10 other Democratic-majority states, is working on similar legislation in response to increased labor organizing in recent years. Expecting the Trump administration to be less kind to them, unions are looking to state laws to preserve the easier organizing environment of the past four years.
For example, the National Labor Relations Board, which for decades has generally allowed employers to hold so-called captive audience meetings, ruled in November that they were illegal. But Amazon, the employer in the case, is contesting the ruling, and labor experts expect the board to reverse its stance under the Trump administration. In that case, California’s ban on public gatherings would still apply.
But lawsuits challenging this law are not surprising. Companies are already suing over similar laws in other states. Wisconsin was one of the first states to ban such gatherings in 2009. The employer filed a lawsuit the following year claiming it violated federal law, but the state backed out and agreed not to enforce the law. However, an Oregon court rejected a similar challenge brought by the former Trump administration.
California business groups argued in the lawsuit that the law violates the First Amendment and conflicts with the federal National Labor Relations Act. This allows employers to make sure that true facts about labor, such as the burden of union dues, “labour-management interference in industrial relations, unions’ prioritization of groups over individual employees, and economic impact on employers” They said it would prevent them from sharing their information with other people. ”
“Employers are entitled to express their views and opinions on many issues,” Giotto Condi, president and CEO of the state Restaurant Association, said in a statement.
Wahab could not be reached for comment.
