For many decades, California employers have relied on mandatory employee meetings—commonly referred to as "captive audience meetings"—to communicate their views during union organizing campaigns. That long-standing practice was upended in late 2024 when the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") held, in a case involving Amazon, that mandatory meetings concerning unionization generally violate the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA”).
At nearly the same time, California enacted Senate Bill 399 ("SB 399"), which broadly prohibits employers from disciplining employees who refuse to attend mandatory meetings concerning political or religious matters, including discussions about labor organizations.
Today, however, the legal landscape covering captive audience meetings in California is anything but settled. Although both the NLRB and California have sought to restrict captive audience meetings, recent legal developments have left employers in a period of significant uncertainty.
On November 13, 2024, the Biden NLRB issued its decision in Amazon.com Services LLC, 373 NLRB 136 (2024) overruling more than 75 years of Board precedent that had permitted employers to require employees to attend meetings concerning union organizing, provided the employer did not engage in threats, promises, or other unlawful conduct.
The Board concluded that requiring employees to attend employer-sponsored meetings concerning unionization unlawfully...
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