NLRB Blocks Captive Audience Meetings

Author: Michael Cardman, Brightmine Senior Legal Editor

November 13, 2024

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has prohibited "captive audience" meetings.

The Board ruled today in Amazon.com Services LLC that such meetings (which it defines as mandatory meetings urging employees to reject union representation) violate federal labor law because they:

  • Interfere with employees' rights to freely decide whether, when and how to participate in a debate about union representation;
  • Allow employers to observe and surveil employees; and
  • Inhibit employees from freely exercising their rights because employers can compel attendance by threatening to discipline or discharge employees.

The Amazon ruling overturns a longstanding 1948 precedent allowing captive audience meetings, Babcock & Wilcox Co.

Merely meeting with employees on company time no matter the topic shouldn't be considered coercive - so long as there are no threats.

Rob Boonin, Dykema

Several states - including, most recently, California and Alaska - already have enacted captive audience meeting bans of their own. Those state-level bans will remain relevant despite the NLRB's new federal prohibition, as their scope and penalties differ. 

The incoming Trump administration may seek to appoint new members to the NLRB who would overturn the Amazon ruling and restore the Babcock standard; however, it appears likely that Democrats will retain a controlling majority of the NLRB through at least mid-2026.

"This outcome was anticipated, and it's a continuation of the Board's initiative to tie employers' hands and mete out undue penalties, particularly in light of the Cemex doctrine," Rob Boonin, an employer-side labor and employment attorney at Dykema, told Brightmine. "Merely meeting with employees on company time no matter the topic shouldn't be considered coercive - so long as there are no threats."

The Amazon ruling undermines employers' ability to inform their employees on union issues before employees vote, Boonin added: "Educating them has long been respected as reasonable under the law. Mandatory meetings also avoid employees from having to face peer pressure from pro-union coworkers."