Employers can make their employees do many things they may not want to do. However, in 12 states (Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington) with captive audience laws, they cannot force employees to sit through certain meetings to influence them on religious, political, or labor organization issues. 

Connecticut’s law, for example, prohibits employers from making employees attend company-sponsored meetings that have the primary purpose of communicating the company’s views on religious or political matters (“political” matters include the employer’s position on whether employees should join a union). Illinois’ law similarly prohibits employers from disciplining or threatening employees who refuse to attend a company-sponsored meeting to communicate the employer’s views on religious or political matters, including unionization, or who refuse to receive communications from their employer about such topics. 

While these captive audience laws have been challenged in court in California, Connecticut, Illinois, and Oregon on First Amendment and National Labor Relations Act preemption grounds, none of these laws have been invalidated as of today.

Notably, captive audience laws do not prohibit employers from having union avoidance meetings or other meetings that could be deemed to be of a political or religious nature. Such meetings simply must be voluntary, and employers would do well to make clear to employees that they are not required to attend and will not face adverse action if they choose not to come.