New Jersey Expands Its Law Regarding Captive Audience Meetings to Prohibit Such Meetings About Unionization

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Patricia Tsipras

October 30, 2025

Existing New Jersey law prohibits employers from requiring employees to attend employer sponsored meetings or participate in any communications with an employer regarding religious or political matters (i.e., captive audience meetings).  Effective December 2, 2025, New Jersey Act 4429 (Act) incorporates labor organizations and activities in the definition of political matters, thereby prohibiting employers from holding mandatory employer sponsored anti-union meetings.

Prohibitions
It will be unlawful for an employer to fire, threaten to fire, or otherwise discipline or threaten to discipline employees for refusing to participate in employer-sponsored meetings or communicate with their employer regarding union organizing activity.  It also will be unlawful to retaliate against employees for exercising their rights under the Act.

Exceptions
However, several exceptions exist.

• The Act does not prohibit an employer from making attendance at such meetings voluntary, if the employer notifies employees that they may refuse to attend/participate without penal
• The Act does not prohibit an employer from communicating information that they are required by law to communicate
• The Act does not prohibit an employer from communicating information that is necessary for employees to perform their required job duties
• The Act does not prohibit an employer from holding mandatory anti-harassment or anti-discrimination training
• The Act does not prohibit an institution of higher education from communicating with its employees regarding coursework, symposia, research, publication, or academic programs.
• The Act does not prohibit a religious organization from communicating the employer’s religious beliefs, practices, or tenets.
• The Act does not prohibit a political candidate or related committee from communicating political electioneering matters, where lawful.
• The Act does not prohibit the State from communicating with employees regarding its proposals to change legislation, change regulations, or change public policy.

Notices
Employers must post notice of employees’ rights under the Act in an area reserved for employment notices, as well as in an area “commonly frequented by employees.”

Penalties
Aggrieved employees have a private right of action.  Available relief includes restraining orders, reinstatement of employees, lost wages and benefits, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees and costs.

New Jersey Employer Takeaways
Expect legal challenges to this law.  Similar laws – for example, in California and Illinois – have faced lawsuits alleging that the National Labor Relations Act preempts the law or that the law is unconstitutional.  See the update to our article here about the recent decision of a federal court in California enjoining enforcement of California’s captive audience law.  And see the update to our article here about the recent decision of a federal court in Illinois dismissing a lawsuit seeking to strike down Illinois’s captive audience law.

Even if legal challenges ensue regarding New Jersey’s law, they will take time to make their way through the courts.  Therefore, be prepared – by the December 2, 2025, effective date – to display posters about the amended law so that employees are aware of their rights.  In addition, train senior leadership and management personnel on the amended law so that they are aware of the scope of prohibited meetings/communications and the law’s anti-retaliation provisions.

The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania.  This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist.  Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.