On February 11, the Liberty Justice Center and California Justice Center filed a federal lawsuit challenging a California law that violates employers’ First Amendment rights by prohibiting companies from discussing any “religious or political matters” at mandatory meetings.
On September 27, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 399 (SB 399) into law. Although labeled the “California Worker Freedom from Employer Intimidation Act,” SB 399 does not actually address intimidation—rather, it bans California employers from communicating with their employees about political or religious matters during any mandatory meetings, such as all-staff calls.
SB 399 restricts speech based on its content, declaring that Californian employers may discuss almost any topic in mandatory employee meetings—except politics and religion. The Supreme Court has ruled that such content-based restrictions on free speech presumptively violate the First Amendment.
Therefore, on February 11, the Liberty Justice Center partnered with the California Justice Center to challenge SB 399 on behalf of the California Policy Center (CPC), a nonprofit that conducts research on public policy matters across the state, including education reform and government transparency. Because the organization’s central work entails researching state politics and communicating its findings to Californian residents, CPC regularly holds all-staff meetings to discuss political matters. However, SB 399 now makes such meetings illegal.
This restriction on the CPC’s ability to hold mandatory employee meetings about political matters important to its mission and daily work violates the organization’s right to free speech under the First Amendment. The lawsuit seeks to enjoin SB 399 to restore employers’ free speech rights across the state of California.
In addition to the lawsuit, the Liberty Justice Center and California Justice Center will file a motion for a preliminary injunction in their case against SB 399. If granted, the injunction will prevent the state of California from enforcing SB 399 against employers for exercising their free speech rights and holding mandatory employee meetings discussing “political matters” while the lawsuit moves through the courts.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly found that content-based restrictions on free speech are presumptively unconstitutional. California cannot pick and choose what employers may say at mandatory employee meetings. We urge the court to strike down this overt violation of the First Amendment,” said Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center.
“SB 399 sets a dangerous precedent by allowing the government to punish Californian employers for their speech based on whether it approves of the content of that speech. We are proud to join the Liberty Justice Center in challenging this legislation,” said Will Swaim, President of the California Policy Center, plaintiff in the lawsuit.
California Policy Center v. Garcia-Brower was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on February 11, 2025.
Jeffrey M. Schwab is a Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, where he litigates cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property and other Constitutional rights in both federal and state courts across the country.
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