A class-action lawsuit filed against a Connecticut union Thursday seeks to expand a recent Supreme Court ruling that ended forced payments to unions by nonmembers. The lawsuit would require the unions to repay any funds they received from nonmembers going back to 2015, a potentially severe financial blow to the labor movement, should the case serve as a legal precedent.
The lawsuit was filed by the nonprofit group National Right to Work against Service Employees International Union Local 2001, which represents Connecticut state government workers. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of two state government employees who never joined the union but were nevertheless forced to pay it regular fees under the state’s contract with the local, argues that the Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME ruling declared all such payments invalid, even ones made before the ruling came out in June.
“The Supreme Court finally upheld public sector workers’ First Amendment right to choose whether or not to support a union without the threat of being fired, but justice also demands that the victims of such schemes have returned the money union bosses illegally seized from them,” said NRTW President Mark Mix. “This class action is one of many across the country which together seek the return of more than $100 million to the victims of union bosses’ unconstitutional forced dues schemes.”
While the Janus ruling found it unconstitutional to force public sector workers to support a union without their “affirmative consent,” it did not explicitly say that the ruling should applied retroactively. NRTW’s lawsuit seeks to establish that it does. It could potentially cover hundreds of state workers.
“We feel there was language in the Janus decision that is helpful to this case and others seeking refunds,” said NRTW spokeswoman AnneMarie McPherson.
SEIU Local 2001 did not respond to a request for comment.
Similar cases have been filed previously in other states. The nonprofit Washington state-based Freedom Foundation filed one earlier this month against the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees also seeking to make Janus retroactive.
