A group of California state employees lost their First Amendment challenge to fees a public union
deducted from their paychecks, after a California federal court found that they’d agreed to pay
them under valid union membership agreements.
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees union was entitled to
enforce the voluntarily signed membership agreements, Judge William B. Shubb of the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of California said Dec. 20, granting the union’s motion to
dismiss all remaining claims in the case.
The challenge stems from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision, which held
that employees have a First Amendment right not to pay union dues. Under Janus, unions can’t
collect dues from employees without clear, affirmative consent.
After Janus, nine California state employees sued AFSCME and California state agency officials,
alleging that the union had violated the First Amendment by deducting dues from their paychecks
after they’d resigned their memberships. In June, the court dismissed the employees’ claims for
retroactive refunds because the union had relied in good faith on existing law that permitted the
deductions.
While AFSCME’s conduct constituted state action, it didn’t violate the employees’ First
Amendment rights, the court found.
AFSCME asked the state to deduct dues from the state employees’ wage, and the state did so,
through California Senate Bill 866, which empowered unions to deduct dues through membership
agreements, the court said.
But the employees joined AFSCME voluntarily, knew about the benefits of union membership, and
chose to pay dues in exchange for those benefits by signing membership agreements that allowed
AFSCME to deduct dues from their paychecks, the court said. There’s “no constitutional objection to the performance of the membership agreements,” the court
said.
Additionally, the court dismissed the workers’ requests for declaratory and injunctive relief as moot
because AFSCME has stopped the deductions.
The Benbrook Law Group, Mitchell Law PLLC, and Talcott Franklin PC represented the
employees. Leonard Carder LLP and Bredhoff & Kaiser PLLC represented AFSCME. Attorneys
from the California Attorney General’s Office represented the state officials.
The case is Hernandez v. State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 2620, 2019 BL 489323,
E.D. Cal., 2:18-CV-02419 WBS EFB, 12/20/19.
