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Employment & Labor Law

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Permitted to Limit Demonstrations in Plaza

In Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, Local 100 v. New York City Dep't of Parks & Recreation, 311 F.3d 534 (2d Cir. 2002), the Second Circuit upheld as constitutional Lincoln Center's refusal to permit political demonstrations and the distribution of leaflets in its Fountain Plaza on the grounds that those restrictions were viewpoint-neutral and reasonable in relation to the Plaza's purpose.

The Lincoln Center performing arts complex is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and the Plaza is an outdoor square that serves as the centerpiece of the entire complex. There is a fountain in the Plaza's center, with unrestricted public access. Lincoln Center, Inc. ("Lincoln Center") has exclusive responsibility for scheduling events in the public areas at Lincoln Center, including the Plaza, subject to approval from the Parks Department. In exercising its scheduling authority, Lincoln Center, Inc. stages its own events and permits other events that benefit the Center financially. As for all other requests by third parties for use of the Plaza and public areas, Lincoln Center, Inc. usually limits approval to events "having a performance, entertainment or artistic component." Id. at 541. Thus, their policy does not allow political or labor-oriented events, such as demonstrations and rallies.

On March 22, 1999, a member of Local 100 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union ("Union") was prohibited from distributing leaflets in the Plaza by Lincoln Center, Inc. security and the police department, who threatened...

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