Defeated big labor’s employer gag rule legislation

Perhaps the biggest assault on the rights of small business owners this session was the so called “Workplace Privacy Act,” more accurately called the employer gag rule. Lawmakers introduced Substitute House Bill 1528 and Substitute Senate Bill 5446, which would have prohibited employers from holding mandatory meetings or sending employee communications about religious or political issues.  Never mind that state and federal laws already protect workers from these issues, or that the state’s own attorney general clearly stated that these bills were unconstitutional. In reality, the thrust of this legislation was to prohibit employers from talking to their employees about union issues and tie an employer’s hands during a unionization drive.