Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Gov. Rauner Loses New Union Fee Case


In Harris v. Quinn (2014), the Supreme Court struck down mandatory union fee for private home-health workers, including employees who are paid wages by a state subsidy. This was a big win for opponents of unions.

An anti-union group, Right to Work Foundation, filed a follow-up lawsuit in Riffey et al. v. Rauner et al., case number 1:10-cv-02477, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The decision is here. 

In the new lawsuit, union-fee challengers seek $32 million in fees taken by the union from 80,000 home health care workers since 2008.

Notice that Gov. Rauner is a defendant, along with the union (SEIU). But this is a case he wants to lose in order to withhold or collect money from the union.

The problem, according to federal judge Manish Shah, is that 65% of the workers have voluntarily joined the union and consented to pay dues. The lawsuit seeks refunds for this 65% class, and the other 35%. The union has stopped collecting dues from the non-members, but refuses to refund dues for the period 2008-2014.

On June 7th, Judge Shah dismissed a motion to allow the non-members to represent the entire class

The judge explained that the plaintiffs do not meet the legal definition of “typicality”— in other words, the minority-plaintiffs cannot use a class action to impose their will on the majority. 

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