Mandatory employer meetings about companies’ positions on unions violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled on Nov. 13. The NLRB overruled a decision (Babcock & Wilcox Co.) that’s been in place 76 years but said its recent holding (Amazon.com Services LLC) applies only prospectively. Voluntary meetings with workers to share employer views on unionization are lawful within certain parameters, the NLRB determined in the Amazon case. Marvin Kaplan, the sole Republican on the board, dissented from the decision, calling it contrary to the NLRA and unconstitutional.

The board articulated several reasons why mandatory captive audience meetings were deemed to interfere with employees’ rights under the act.

First, the NLRB determined that such meetings interfere with an employee’s right under the NLRA to freely decide whether, when, and how to participate in a debate concerning union representation.

Second, captive audience meetings provide a mechanism for an employer to unlawfully observe and surveil employees as it addresses the exercise of employees’ NLRA rights, according to the NLRB.

Third, the board determined that an employer’s ability to compel attendance at such meetings on pain of discipline or discharge lends a coercive character to the message regarding unionization.

The board’s “attempt to ban so-called captive-audience speeches harkens back to an earlier era when the board sought to impose on employers a...

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