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Union Station: July 13, 2018
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Last month, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its 5-4 ruling in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (Janus). The court ruled that public sector unions cannot require non-member employees to pay agency fees to cover the costs of non-political union activities. In light of this decision, non-union public sector employees in multiple states have filed lawsuits to recoup previously collected agency fees.
- California: On July 2, seven non-union California teachers who were required to pay agency fees filed a class-action lawsuit in federal district court seeking repayment of fees previously paid to their union. Plaintiff Scott Wilford said, "This lawsuit will enable teachers like me to recover the agency fees that we were wrongly forced to pay against our will." Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, characterized the lawsuit as a "bid to ensure workers must fend for themselves and not have the opportunity to live a better life." (Source: Education Week)
- Illinois: On June 28, in light of the Janus ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered an appeals court to reconsider its decision in Riffey v. Rauner, a suit in which Illinois healthcare workers are seeking recompense for approximately $32 million paid in agency fees. In 2017, the appeals court affirmed a district court decision finding that the plaintiffs could not proceed with a class-action suit, requiring the plaintiffs to proceed with challenges on an individual basis. Bill Messenger, an attorney for the National Right to Work Legal Foundation, which represented clients in both Riffey and Janus, said, "The Riffey case is big even on its own terms. But it has implications for other cases. If individuals sue on behalf of employees to recover back money taken from them under Janus, they’ll run into the same class-certification issues that Riffey has encountered. So how the court resolves Riffey could have implications for any number of future cases." Scott Kronland, an attorney for the Service Employees International Union, said, "The Riffey case just involves the question of class certification and it was denied for multiple reasons. What happened in Janus isn’t going to change the determination that class action was properly denied." New arguments are expected to be presented to the appeals court this autumn. (Sources: Washington Examiner, Route Fifty)
- Washington: On July 3, the Freedom Foundation filed a class-action lawsuit in federal district court seeking restitution for agency fees collected from non-union workers prior to Janus. The suit names the state and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as defendants. Maxford Nelson, director of labor policy for the Freedom Foundation, said, "The state of Washington to our knowledge has not taken any action whatsoever to alert the caregivers to their First Amendment rights to refrain from supporting SEIU." Representatives of SEIU said that they had not yet seen the lawsuit and, therefore, could not provide immediate comment. (Sources: The Seattle Times, Washington Examiner)
According to John Bursch, an attorney for the California teachers mentioned above, similar lawsuits are in process in Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Details on these suits could not be ascertained as of July 13.
The big picture
Number of relevant bills by state
As of July 13, 2018, we are tracking 196 pieces of legislation dealing with public sector employee union policy. No new bills were added this week. On the map below, a darker shade of green indicates a greater number of relevant bills. Click the map for complete information.
Number of relevant bills by current legislative status
Number of relevant bills by partisan status of sponsor(s)
Recent legislative actions
Below is a complete list of legislative actions on relevant bills in the past week. Bills are listed first by state and then by bill number. Because some state bill tracking systems are not updated in real time, some action may have occurred more than a week ago.
- California AB1832: This bill would extend public sector union provisions to employees of the Regents of the University of California, the Judicial Council, counties, cities, and public authorities, authorizing unions to request payroll deductions for employee fees and dues.
- On July 5, Sen. Holly Mitchell (D) ordered this bill to the inactive file. It could be taken up again by the chamber at a later date. The bill cleared the Assembly on May 10.
See also
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