Your Rights to Opt Out of Union Dues

Your Rights to Opt Out of Union Dues

Public Sector Employee

In June 2018, The Supreme Court ruled by a 5-to-4 vote in favor of the plaintiff in Janus v. AFSCME. This means that the court recognized that the extraction of agency fees from non-consenting public sector employees is a violation of the First Amendment. As a result, the services provided to public sector employees by Choose Charity are no longer necessary. So if you are a non-member and a public employee and do not wish to pay any portion of your union dues, including agency/fair-share fees, you should contact your union directly. They are not legally permitted to collect fees of any kind from you without your express consent.

The paragraph below is a sample that you can provide to your union and employer:

On June 27, 2018, the U.S. Supreme court delivered its ruling on Janus v. American Federation Of State, County, And Municipal Employees, Council 31, et al. This decision overruled Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Ed., 431 U. S. 209 (1977).  The Court held that States and public-sector unions may no longer extract agency fees from non-consenting employees. Any procedure extracts or in any way obtains agency fees from an employee without his or her consent, violates the First Amendment and cannot continue. Neither an agency fee nor any other payment to the union may be deducted from a nonmember’s wages, nor may any other attempt be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay.  Based on the Court’s language, please take notice that I hereby withhold my consent to the extraction of such fees from my paycheck.

Or feel free to contact Pacific Justice Institute at 916-857-6900, with any questions you may have — or if you have any pushback when you withdraw your consent.

Private Sector Employee

If you are a private sector employee who would like to opt out of union dues, please contact Pacific Justice Institute.

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Business Leader or Employee

Our Locations

Pacific Justice Institute Offices

 

Sacramento Legal Office

P.O. Box 276600

Sacramento, CA 95827

Phone: 916-857-6900

 

Orange County Legal Office

P.O. Box 11630

Santa Ana, CA 92711

Phone: 714-796-7151

 

SF Bay Area Legal Office

San Jose, CA 95110

Phone: 510-834-7232

 

Oregon Legal Office

P.O. Box 5229

Salem, OR 97304

Phone: 503-917-4409

 

Washington Legal Office

P.O. Box 48011

Seattle, WA 98148

Phone: 206-257-3239

 

Riverside Media Office

Cal Baptist University

Phone: 714-294-2205

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