Attorney General Tong Statement on Major Win in Challenge to Connecticut Captive Audience Law

Press Releases

02/13/2026

Attorney General Tong Statement on Major Win in Challenge to Connecticut Captive Audience Law

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong released the following statement after a federal district court judge granted the state’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the Connecticut Business and Industry Association and U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s challenge to Connecticut’s captive audience law.

Captive audience meetings are mandatory meetings held during work hours to pressure employees to support certain religious or political points of view, political candidates or to vote against forming a union. Connecticut enacted legislation in 2022 that gave workers the right to not attend or leave such meetings and return to work when the subject of the meeting is about an employer’s politics, religion or union organizing. CBIA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other entities jointly challenged the statute in a federal lawsuit filed in 2022. The Office of the Attorney General has been defending the state in that challenge.

U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley today granted the state’s motion for summary judgment, finding that CBIA lacked standing to continue the suit because its First Amendment rights to speak to its employees are not impacted by the law.

“Workers should not be forced to listen to their employer’s religious or political views—including anti-union rhetoric. Connecticut’s captive audience statute is both lawful and necessary, and the Office of the Attorney General will continue to defend the state’s ability to protect workers’ rights,” said Attorney General Tong.

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong

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Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

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