Four mental health workers in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, tried for months to quit their government union, Teamsters Local 429, with no success.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that it is unconstitutional to require government workers to pay dues or fees to a government union as a condition of working in public service, but that is just what Teamsters Local 429 forced them to do.
In July 2018, just weeks after the Janus decision, our clients sent letters requesting to opt out of Teamsters 429. They discovered they would be forced to pay union dues until their union membership anniversary — an arbitrary opt-out window. After exhausting all options to exercise their rights with Lebanon County and Teamsters 429, they turned to the Liberty Justice Center for help.
The Liberty Justice Center has filed a lawsuit, Adams v. Teamsters, on their behalf in February 2019 to force the union to recognize workers’ First Amendment rights.
Jeffrey M. Schwab is a Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, where he litigates cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property and other Constitutional rights in both federal and state courts across the country.
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