Golden State Today

Labor law expert Ben Ebbink delivered a detailed seminar on the new captive audience law during a webinar exclusive for NFIB California members, held on March 26. During the webinar, Ebbink stated, “You’ve got a broad, vaguely worded statute that could get employers into a lot of trouble, and you got this heavy-handed enforcement, which could result in something as high as punitive damages.”

Ebbink, a partner at law firm Fisher Phillips and leader in both the Government Relations and Staffing Industry groups, focused on the implications of Senate Bill 399. He offered analysis on California's law prohibiting captive audience practices, a term familiar in labor organizing. According to Ebbink, “Unions have always wanted to get rid of it and finally succeeded under the Biden administration. But the new Trump administration is rolling it back.”

Apart from discussing SB 399, Ebbink addressed topics including minimum wage, Workplace Violence Prevention Plans, the “No Robot Bosses Act” (Senate Bill 7), workplace surveillance (Assembly Bill 1331), and location privacy (Assembly Bill 1355). Ebbink's webinar forms part of NFIB’s ongoing effort to provide valuable insights to its members.

The full presentation is available via a hyperlink on NFIB’s page.