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Montana bill would bar employers from requiring 'controversial' workplace trainings; key terms left to rulemaking
Summary
Representative Steve Kelly told the House Judiciary committee his bill would ban adverse actions against workers who refuse trainings that "promote a controversial social vision," with carve‑outs for churches and political organizations; the Department of Labor said key terms would be defined through administrative rulemaking and warned of a likely increase in complaints.
Representative Steve Kelly, sponsor of House Bill 319, told the House Judiciary committee he wrote the bill to stop employers from compelling workers to attend trainings that push contested social or political views. "The whole point is the workplace is the workplace," Kelly said, arguing employees "should not have to conform to somebody's ideology just to have a job." He described the bill's core: a definition of "controversial social vision" and a prohibition on "unlawful discriminatory practice" for employers who penalize workers who refuse such trainings.
Quinlan O'Connor, chief legal counsel for the Department of Labor and Industry, which houses the Human Rights Bureau, said the department enforces the…
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