Existing federal and state law protects the right of employees to freedom of association, self-organization, and collective bargaining, and to be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers with regard to concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. Existing law also prohibits employers from maintaining policies that restrain employees’ freedom to engage or participate in politics, and from controlling or directing the political activities or affiliations of employees.
Senate Bill 399 (SB 399), also known as the “California Worker Freedom from Employer Intimidation Act,” prohibits an employer from subjecting, or threatening to subject, an employee to an adverse employment action because the employee declines to attend an employer-sponsored meeting (or otherwise affirmatively declines to receive or listen to communications) designed to convey the employer’s opinion about religious or political matters, including the decision to join or support any labor organization. SB 399 provides that an employee who is working at the time of the meeting and elects not to attend shall continue to be paid while the meeting takes place. The law does not prohibit an employer from communicating to its employees any information that is necessary for those employees to perform their job duties.
The law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to enforce this law, in addition to creating a private right of action for damages, including punitive damages. In addition to any other remedy, an employer who violates these provisions must pay a civil penalty of $500 per violation.
(SB 399 adds Chapter 9, commencing with section 1137, to the Labor Code.)