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 577 (1948) and held that, going forward, employers violate the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) if they require employees “to attend a meeting at which the employer expresses its views on unionization,” commonly known as “captive-audience meetings.”

The Board’s Decision

In a case that has been on the docket for years now, the Board, rejecting the long-standing precedent, held that captive-audience meetings violate Section 8(a)(1) of the Act “because they have a reasonable tendency to interfere with and coerce employees in the exercise of their Section 7 right to freely decide whether or not to unionize, including the right to decide whether, when, and how they will listen to and consider their employer’s views concerning that choice.” The Board noted that requiring employees to attend such meetings is unlawful regardless of whether the employer expresses support or opposition for unionization. Rather, the violation hinges on the employer’s power to compel employees to attend such a meeting.

The Board’s decision was rooted in three concerns:

• First, the Board found that captive-audience meetings inhibit employees’ right to freely choose the degree to which they will participate in a debate about union representation.
• Second, the Board...

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