PETITION OF:

SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the “Worker Privacy Protection Act of 2007”.

SECTION 2. Chapter one hundred and forty-nine of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting therein the following new section to be designated section nineteen D:—

§ 19D. Employee privacy; mandatory employer meetings

(a) The General Court finds that employers increasingly use mandatory workplace meetings to force their religious or political beliefs on workers, including their beliefs about representation of employees by labor unions, and it further finds that such meetings infringe employee rights of privacy and freedom of conscience. It is the policy of the commonwealth that employees should not be compelled to attend or participate in meetings where they are subjected to indoctrination about religious or political matters unrelated to their job performance or matters concerning labor union representation, nor should employees have to fear retaliation because they decline to attend or participate in such meetings or because they do not share their employer’s beliefs on such matters.

(b) Definitions.

As used in this section:—

(1) “Constituent group” includes, but is not limited to, civic associations, community groups, social clubs, advocacy organizations, mutual benefit alliances, and labor organizations.

(2) “Employee” means any person employed by or engaged in service to an employer.

(3) “Employer” means (A) any person or persons, corporation, unincorporated association, partnership, institution, trustee, trustee-in-bankruptcy, receiver, or any other entity that employs at least one person in the commonwealth; (B) the state of Massachusetts, any political subdivision of the state, and any agency, board, authority, commission or body created by or acting under the authority of the state; and (C) any person that is an agent of, acting for, or acting under the authority of an employer.

(4) “Labor organization” means any organization, entity, or agency of any kind that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining, or for dealing with employers concerning grievances or terms and conditions of employment, or for other mutual aid or protection in connection with employment.

(5) “Labor representation matters” includes representation of employees by a labor organization or considerations relative to joining, not joining, participating in, not participating in, supporting, or not supporting a labor organization or any lawful activity of a labor organization.

(6) “Mandatory communication” includes oral and any other form of communications as to which an employee is subject to adverse employment action used as a means of requiring an employee to attend a meeting or to respond to, address, or participate in such communications.

(7) “Political matters” includes political party affiliation, campaigns for candidates for public office, referenda, ballot questions and/or legislation, or considerations relative to joining, not joining, participating in, not participating in, supporting, or not supporting any lawful political or constituent group or activity.

(8) “Religious matters” includes religious affiliation or identification, or considerations relative to joining, not joining, adhering to, not adhering to, supporting, or not supporting, any bona fide religious faith, organization, or activity.

(9) “Student instructors” includes, but is not limited to, teaching assistants, teaching fellows, research assistants, research fellows, post-doctoral associates, post-doctoral fellows, interns, and residents of a bona fide educational or health-care teaching institution. Student instructors employed in any capacity by such institution shall be deemed employees within this section.

(1) No employer or employer’s agent, representative or designee may require employees of the employer to attend an employer-sponsored meeting or to respond to, address, or participate in any meetings or mandatory communications with the employer or its agents or representatives, a purpose of which is to communicate the employer’s opinion about religious, political, or labor representation matters.

(2) No employer or employer’s agent, representative or designee shall discharge, discipline, or otherwise penalize, threaten to discharge, discipline, or otherwise penalize, or take any adverse employment action against any employee:—

(A) as a means of requiring an employee to attend a meeting or to respond to, address, or participate in a meeting or mandatory communication described in this subsection (c); or

(B) because the employee refused to attend a meeting or to respond to, address, or participate in a meeting or mandatory communication that violates or would violate this section; or

(C) because the employee, or a person acting on behalf of the employee, makes a good faith report, verbally or in writing, of a violation or suspected violation of this section, except that such prohibition shall not be applicable when the employee knows that such report is false; or

(D) because the employee has challenged or opposed any practice made unlawful by this section, or because the employee has made a charge, filed suit, testified, assisted in doing any of these things, or assisted or participated in any manner in any investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this section.

(3) Any employee or person or entity acting on behalf of or as the designee of an employee may enforce the provisions of this section by means of a civil action brought in the superior court no later than ninety days after the date of the alleged violation. The superior court shall have jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate such matters. Whenever the court shall determine that a violation of this section has occurred, is occurring, or is likely to occur, the court shall award such relief as shall be appropriate including, but without limitation to, equitable or injunctive relief, rehiring or reinstatement of the employee to the employee’s former position or an equivalent position, backpay and reestablishment of any employee benefits, including seniority, to which the employee would otherwise have been eligible if such violation had not occurred, damages for any reasonably foreseeable losses sustained by such employee as a result of such violation, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, and any other appropriate relief as deemed necessary by the court to make the employee whole or restrain violations of this section. In the case of a knowing and willful violation of this section, the court shall award treble backpay and damages. In any proceeding under this section, when it is alleged that an employer or employer’s agent, representative, or designee engaged in conduct constituting retaliation prohibited by this subsection (c) within one hundred and eighty days of the date upon which the employee refused to attend or to respond to, address, or participate in a meeting or mandatory communication, made a good faith report, challenged or opposed a practice, or charged, filed suit, testified, assisted, or participated as described in this subsection (c), a presumption shall arise that the alleged conduct violated this section. The employer may rebut said presumption by adducing clear and convincing evidence that the discharge of or action taken against the employee was for a bona fide job-related or business reason unrelated to any conduct prohibited by this section. An action under this section shall not be deemed to concern, involve, or grow out of a labor dispute within the meaning of section twenty C of chapter one hundred and forty-nine or any other provision of law; and the provisions of section twenty-four of chapter one hundred and forty-nine, and section six of chapter two hundred and fourteen shall not apply to any proceeding under this section.

(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to limit an employee’s right to bring a common law cause of action against an employer for wrongful termination or to diminish or impair the rights of or remedies available to any person under any collective bargaining agreement.

(5) Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to limit an employer’s right to express any views to its employees or others on religious, political, or labor representation matters in any manner or form except a communication or meeting prohibited by this section.

(6) Nothing in this section shall prohibit: —

(A) a religious organization from requiring its employees to attend an employer-sponsored meeting or to respond to, address, or participate in a mandatory communication with the employer or its agents or representatives, the primary purpose of which is to communicate the employer’s religious beliefs, practices, or tenets;

(B) a political organization, including political parties, constituent groups, and other organizations which engage, in substantial part, in political activities, from requiring its employees to attend an employer-sponsored meeting or to respond to, address, or participate in a mandatory communication with the employer or its agents or representatives, the primary purpose of which is to communicate the employer’s political beliefs, tenets, purposes, or goals;

(C) a labor organization, when acting as an employer, from requiring its employees to attend an employer-sponsored meeting or to respond to, address, or participate in a mandatory communication, the primary purpose of which is to communicate the labor organization’s political beliefs, tenets, purposes, or goals;

(D) a bona fide educational or health-care teaching institution from requiring student instructors to attend lectures or classes on religious, political, or labor representation matters, that are a part of the regular course of instruction at such institution;

(E) communications of information about religious, political, or labor representation matters that the employer is required by law to communicate, but only to the extent of such legal requirement;

(F) meetings of an employer’s executive or administrative personnel to discuss issues related to the employer’s business;

(G) any employer from conducting any meeting for the purpose of collective bargaining or the administration of a collective bargaining agreement, or the resolution of employee grievances;

(H) any employer from conducting a meeting or making a mandatory communication, with the assistance of consultants or experts retained for said activity, for the purpose of training employers and employees with respect to understanding and eliminating discrimination in the workplace on the basis of race, color, religion, religious creed, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation or identity, disability, age, or any other form of invidious discrimination, so long as such action does not include a meeting or mandatory communication otherwise prohibited by this section; or

(I) any employer from allowing employees to utilize its facilities, bulletin boards, inter-office mail, or electronic messaging systems for or in connection with voluntary meetings or expression by employees on religious, political, or labor representation matters, so long as such access is extended on a non-discriminatory basis, and so long as the grant of such access does not involve a meeting or mandatory communication otherwise prohibited by this section.

(7) Employers shall post notices to employees of employee rights under this bill. Such postings shall be in at least one place commonly frequented by employees, and in any place normally utilized for employment-related notices.

(8) The rights and procedures provided by this section may not be waived by contract or otherwise, except if such waiver or disclaimer is contained in a written settlement agreed to and signed by the parties to an action or proceeding under this section.

SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this Act or of section nineteen D of chapter one hundred and forty-nine of the General Laws as added by this Act, or any application of same, is held to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid under the constitution or laws of the United States or of the state of Massachusetts by a decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions or other applications of this Act or of the said nineteen D. It is hereby declared that this Act and section nineteen D of chapter one hundred and forty-nine of the General Laws as added by this Act, and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase therein not declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid would have been passed without regard to whether any portion or application of the Act or the said section nineteen D would subsequently be declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid.