California business groups have sued to stop the state from implementing a new law that prohibits companies from ordering workers to attend meetings on unionization and other matters. The law, Senate Bill 399, went into effect Jan. 1 and makes it illegal to penalize an employee who refuses to attend a meeting at which their employer discusses its “opinion about religious or political matters,” including whether to join a union.
Unions have long held that these so-called 'captive audience meetings' serve to intimidate employees and hinder organizing efforts. The legislation, authored by State Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward), is among a set of new workplace laws going into effect in California in 2025. In a federal lawsuit filed on New Year's Eve in the Eastern District of California, the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Restaurant Assn. contend that the law violates companies' rights to free speech and equal protection under the 1st and 14th amendments. The law violates these protections by 'discriminating against employers’ viewpoints on political matters, regulating the content of employers’ communications with their employees, and by chilling and prohibiting employer speech,' the lawsuit said. Employers 'have the right to communicate with their employees about the employers’ viewpoints on politics, unionization, and other labor issues.' The suit asks the courts to block the law from going into effect. “Throughout legislative deliberations, we repeatedly underscored the fact that SB 399 was a huge overreach,” chamber President Jennifer Barrera said in an emailed statement. “SB 399 is clearly viewpoint-based discrimination, which runs afoul of the First Amendment.' Jot Condie, president of the California Restaurant Assn., said the law 'creates restrictions that are unworkable.' The lawsuit was no surprise, said Lorena Gonzalez, a former state assembly member and current head of the California Labor Federatio