During the last legislative session, Rhode Island lawmakers voted to limit employer free speech in the workplace by banning employer-sponsored meetings, so-called “captive audience” meetings. As NFIB outlined in our end of year recap, this bill claims to protect workers from an employer’s religious and political views but instead limits what they can say about the impact of unionization on the business.

The new law prohibits employers from holding mandatory worker meetings to explain what unionizing will mean for the business from an employer’s perspective. This also means labor organizers will have an unchallenged narrative on unionization.

Identical laws in Connecticut, Minnesota, and other states face legal challenges citing the law is superseded by the National Labor Relations Act as well as federal labor law precedent. Rhode Island’s new law is likely to face a similar challenge, something NFIB and other organizations warned when lawmakers considered these bills.