(The Center Square) – The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case over deducting union dues from public employees’ paychecks.
Matthew Sheldon worked as a custodian at Carrollton Exempted Village
Schools and joined the union, Ohio Association of Public School Employees, Local 541, in 2016, according to a synopsis of the case.
He quit the union in December 2023, but the union told the school district to continue deducting the dues because of a clause in the union contract that gave members a period in August to quit and cancel automatic dues deductions from their paychecks.
A trial court and appellate court ruled against Sheldon, who appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, which this week agreed to hear the case.
In seeking Ohio Supreme Court review, Sheldon’s lawyers argued his case is a basic contract dispute.
“Like the inescapable gym membership or the subscription that keeps automatically renewing, a union membership and dues deduction authorization agreement is a contract,” Sheldon’s attorney argued in support of a Ohio Supreme Court review of the lower court rulings. “Like any party to a contract with recurring payments, Ohio public employees with union membership contracts have contractual rights and defenses.”
The Freedom Foundation and The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation also supported Sheldon’s case.
“This appeal raises a question of public and great general interest: whether Ohio courts of common pleas have jurisdiction to adjudicate the validity of dues deduction contracts between unions and approximately 270,000 public employees,” the two groups wrote in a Jan. 12 filing with the Ohio Supreme Court.
Both the Ohio courts and the State Employment Relations Board have declined to rule on the merits of the case, claiming they do not have jurisdiction, the Freedom Foundation and The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation said in their brief.
“As a result, employees lack a clear avenue to challenge restrictive contractual provisions that limit their ability to resign union membership and cease paying union dues,” the brief said. “Clarity is urgently needed regarding where – and whether – employees may contest the legality of these provisions,” the brief said.
The Ohio Association of Public School Employees and the State Employment Relations Board disagreed in their brief before the court.
For decades, SERB has adjudicated allegations that public employees had union dues deducted from their paychecks without a valid authorization, the brief said.
“The question presented in this case—whether a public employee alleging that union dues were unlawfully deducted from his paychecks must first proceed before SERB rather than proceeding directly in common pleas court,” the brief stated.
