The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision in Amazon.com Services, LLC ruling that an employer violates the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by requiring employees under threat of discipline or discharge to attend meetings in which the employer expresses its views on unionization (also known as a “captive audience” meeting). In its ruling, the NLRB overruled Babcock & Wilcox Co. and explained that such meetings violate Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA because they have a reasonable tendency to interfere with and coerce employees in the exercise of their rights to join a union. However, the NLRB clarified that an employer may lawfully hold meetings with workers to express their views on unionization so long as workers are provided with reasonable advance notice of: (1) the subject of any such meeting; (2) that attendance is voluntary with no adverse consequences for failure to attend; and (3) that no attendance records of the meeting will be kept. The NLRB articulated several reasons why captive audience meetings interfere with employees’ rights under the NLRA, including: (1) that such meetings interfere with an employee’s rights to freely decide whether, when, and how to participate in a debate concerning union representation, or to refrain from doing so; (2) that captive audience meetings provide a mechanism for an employer to observe and surveil employees as it addresses the exercise of employees’ rights to join a union; and (3) that an employer’s ability to compel attendance at such meetings on pain of discipline or discharge lends a coercive character to the message regarding unionization that employees are forced to receive. The NLRB also made clear that this change in the governing standard will be applied prospectively only, to appropriately accommodate the reasonable reliance employers may have previously placed on Babcock & Wilcox. NLRB Members Prouty and Wilcox joined Chairman McFerran in issuing the decision. Member Kaplan dissented.
