On March 29, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States held in a deadlocked decision that public-sector unions may collect union fees from employees who choose not to join a union and did not want to pay for union collective bargaining activities.

In California, a union is allowed to become the exclusive bargaining unit or majority bargaining unit of a group of employees by submitting proof that a majority of employees in the unit wish to be represented by the union.  Once a union becomes the exclusive bargaining representative or the majority bargaining representative within a municipality, it may establish an “agency-shop” arrangement.  This means that public sector employees, who elect not to join the exclusive bargaining unit or majority bargaining unit, must pay “agency fees,” which are typically used to pay for the costs of collective bargaining, including lobbying.  The fees for non-union members are typically equivalent to the fees that the members of the union pay.  A recent United States Supreme Court case affirms this ideology.

In Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, public school teachers resigned their union membership and objected to paying their portion of the agency fee each year since they were no longer members of the union.  The Supreme Court of the United States affirmed the notion that forcing non-union teachers to pay an agency fee was not a violation of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to free speech and association.

At this time, public employees who choose not to join an exclusive bargaining unit or majority bargaining unit must still financially contribute to that unit since the non-union teachers filed a petition for rehearing on April 13, 2016.  This rehearing will allow this issue to go back to the Supreme Court when a ninth Supreme Court justice is appointed to provide a full decision in this matter.  Churchwell White will continue to follow this case and provide relevant updates as they become available.

As always, if you have any questions on this issue, please contact Douglas L. White at (916) 468-0947 doug@whitebrennerllp.com, or Helane S. Seikaly at (916) 458-4963 helane@whitebrennerllp.com.