Supreme Court to Rule on Legality of “Fair-Share Fees”
On February 26th, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, 851 F.3d 746 (7th Cir. 2017). Although the Court will not circulate a decision until summer of 2018, commentators are speculating that Janus will succeed in overturning the precedent set in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 431 U.S. 209 (1977).
In Abood, the Supreme Court allowed a public employer to require its non-union member employees to pay a fee because they benefitted from the unions collective bargaining agreement with the employer. The fees were not permitted to cover any political funding whatsoever, only the proportionate costs incurred during contracting.
In this case, Mark Janus, a public employee, is challenging an Illinois state law that requires non-union members to pay a “fair share” fee to the union that negotiated on the non-members’ behalf. The “fair share” fee was enacted to cover a proportionate share of the costs the union accrued in negotiating the contract. The fee combats against “free-riding”, whereby a non-union member enjoys the benefits of the contractual work performed by a union without having to pay a fee for those benefits. Janus contends that the fee violates his First Amendment rights because the fees are a form of compelled speech and association which should be reviewed under heightened scrutiny.
The Supreme Court’s ruling could prove costly for unions in America. Invalidating the “fair share” fee could drastically reduce union funding and membership.
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