For Immediate Release
Date: March 17, 2025
Contact: Arielle Brown
Email: Abrown@freedomfoundation.com
Freedom Foundation Sues California Public Employment Relations Board
Shasta County Board of Supervisors Demands Right to Free Speech and Communication with Public Employees
Shasta County, CA—Today, the Freedom Foundation filed a lawsuit against the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) on behalf of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and an employee, defending their free speech rights.
The lawsuit challenges California statutes that prevent public employers from informing employees about their First Amendment right to opt out of union membership. Two specific statues within California Governance Code restrict the Shasta County Board’s ability to communicate freely about union membership options and infringe on employees’ constitutional right to receive truthful information. These statutes can best be characterized as California’s Gag Rule statutes because they force public employers into silence regarding a matter of public concern.
The complaint targets PERB’s enforcement practices of California’s Gag Rule statutes, which effectively deny public employers any meaningful ability to inform employees of their constitutional rights established in the 2018 Supreme Court ruling Janus v. AFSCME. This landmark decision affirmed public employees’ right to decline union membership.
Shasta County Board Chair Kevin W. Crye stated, “Protecting free speech and the right for employees to be fully informed when making decisions about their representative organizations is imperative and unanimously supported by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors.”
“The Public Employment Relations Board is trampling on free speech and workers’ rights, all to protect union interests,” said Freedom Foundation CEO Aaron Withe. “By enforcing these unconstitutional statutes, they are silencing the Shasta County Board and preventing public employees from receiving crucial information about their rights.”
“These laws do a real disservice to public employees, forcing them to rely solely on unions for information that the unions have no intention of providing,” said Freedom Foundation Litigation Counsel Ravi Prasad. “Workers deserve the truth about their options. But these statutes ensure that workers only hear unions’ perspectives on the merits of union membership, while silencing any public employer who disagrees. This is textbook viewpoint discrimination.”
Background:
The lawsuit challenges California Government Code Section 3550 and California Government Code Section 3553, subsections B and C. Both statutes were enacted around the time of the 2018 Janus decision. An initial version of Section 3550 was enacted through a bill with passed just days after the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Janus. After the Supreme Court announced the Janus ruling, the California Legislature passed a bill which amended Section 3550 to its current version and added Section 3553 to the California Government Code.
The complaint argues that California Government Code Sections 3550 and 3553 suppress speech from public employers that would educate employees about their membership rights, effectively discouraging the employee’s right to choose whether to join a union. This constitutes a violation of the First Amendment rights of public employers like the County of Shasta and the First Amendment rights of public employees to receive truthful information.
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