JCPS employees sue over mandatory union fees

Nearly a dozen Jefferson County Public Schools employees have filed a lawsuit against the school district and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, saying they shouldn't be forced to pay union dues if they don't want to be part of the union.

The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court on Sept. 23 by attorneys with the National Right to Work Foundation on behalf of 11 employees, alleges the requirement that nonmembers still pay a "fair share" fee to the union is unconstitutional.

A fair share fee is the amount that a nonmember of a union must pay to support collective bargaining activities. The fee is lower than the dues paid by union members because it does not include money that the union would use for political activities.

The lawsuit says the plaintiffs object to many of the public policy positions that the union advocates. They also object to being represented by them since they believe the union's actions "do not reflect their best interests or the interests of other Job 1A classified employees."

Job 1A classified employees include clerical workers like bookkeepers and secretaries.

The suit says the compulsory fee collection infringes on the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights "because compulsory fee requirements compel employees to support speech and petitioning against their will, and to associate with a union against their will."

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The suit asks that even if the court upholds the fees, it provides certain procedural protections to ensure nonmembers are not paying dues for political activities.

The lawsuit is filed against AFSCME, some of its local affiliates, JCPS' board and JCPS Superintendent Donna Hargens.

JCPS' collective bargaining agreement with the local AFSCME affiliate—the Jefferson County Association of Education Support Personnel, local 411—has JCPS take out union dues and fees automatically from employees' paychecks for the union.

"We are only the organization that is physically taking the money out of their paycheck," JCPS Chief Operations Officer Mike Raisor said. "The deducting of the fair shares amount is a union choice, and it is a condition we agreed to during contract negotiations."

He said the teachers union does not require fair share payments for employees who choose to opt out of the union.

In response to the lawsuit, union officials asked JCPS to stop collecting the fees from nonunion employees until further notice, Raisor said. He said that change will show up in employees' next paychecks.

"If the union wants to stop deducting fair share, we'll happily comply," he said.

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Foundation spokesman Will Collins said part of the reason JCPS was included in the suit is that "the school district should not be acting as a bill collector for the union."

An AFSCME attorney said the union is correcting a notice about the dues so employees are properly informed. A previous notice accidentally left certain things out. He said once that notice is sent out, the union plans to begin collecting the fair share fees again. He called it a minor technical issue.

"We applaud these Jefferson County civil servants for standing up for their workplace rights," said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation in a press release about the lawsuit. "We hope that these public school employees will soon be free from the burden of paying mandatory union dues."

Reporter Allison Ross can be reached at (502) 582-4241. Follow the Courier-Journal’s education team on Facebook at Facebook.com/SchooledCJ.