For decades, employers had been free to gather employees to discuss – in a non-coercive manner – the employer’s views on unionization, and had been free to share with employees what employees’ rights were with respect to the same. Earlier today, the NLRB General Counsel issued a memorandum declaring her intent to attempt to overturn this nearly 75 years of National Labor Relations Board precedent regarding an employer’s ability to speak to employees. In GC Memorandum 22-04, issued on April 7, 2022, argues that mandatory “captive audience” meetings and even simple one-on-one conversations during work are unlawfully coercive.
The General Counsel’s initiative is the latest in a long line of new initiatives dating back to last August, previously discussed in this space – however, this particular change was not previously outlined by the GC in her most recent memo (in August 2021) outlining her enforcement priorities.
The General Counsel refers to the current legality of such meetings as an “anomaly” that is “contrary to the basic principles of labor law,” namely, in that such meetings are contrary to the NLRA’s protection of “employees’ right to listen as well as their right to refrain from listening to employer speech concerning the exercise of their Section 7 rights.”
The General Counsel suggests that such meetings are often held under the threat of discipline, express or implied, by virtue of an inherent pitting of employees’ reliance on...
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