In December 2018, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Illinois school district employee Erich Mandel against his government union, SEIU Local 73, and his employer, Community Consolidated School District 15, for violating his First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of association.
Despite the decisive victory for workers’ rights in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Janus v. AFSCME, Erich Mandel was blocked from exercising his right to resign membership from, and stop paying dues to, Service Employees International Union, Local 73 (SEIU).
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled it is illegal to require government workers to pay dues or fees to a government union as a condition of employment. The Court also required that government employers obtain clear consent from an employee in order to collect any union dues or fees from that employee, specifying that consent cannot be assumed; it must be voluntary, knowing, and shown by clear and compelling evidence.
Erich Mandel, a diesel mechanic in the transportation department of Community Consolidated School District 15 in Palatine, Illinois, first requested in August 2018 that his employer stop withholding union dues and submitted his resignation from the SEIU. The union asserted that Mandel must wait until an arbitrary time period to resign his membership and stop dues collection.
District 15 and SEIU violated Mandel’s First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of association by refusing to allow him to withdraw his union membership and by continuing to charge him union dues based solely on a union card that he allegedly signed before the Janus decision. That union card is now unenforceable.
Jeffrey M. Schwab serves as Senior Counsel and Interim Director of Litigation 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.
James McQuaid is a staff attorney at Liberty Justice Center where he assists in cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property, and other Constitutional rights in courts across the country.
(Daily Herald)—Citing a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision from last summer, a Palatine Township Elementary District 15 diesel mechanic is suing his former union and the district for a refund of dues he says he paid unwillingly. Erich Mandel, a Palatine resident, contends in the federal lawsuit that he had...
(North Cook News)—Would-be nonunion members who thought the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus decision had codified their right not to pay compulsory collective bargaining dues are discovering the unions have an out, according to a lawsuit filed last month. Jeffrey Schwab, senior attorney at Liberty Justice Center, heads the legal team...
(The Chicago Tribune)—A northwest suburban school employee is suing his labor union, saying he’s being blocked from opting out of membership despite a landmark Supreme Court ruling last year that barred public unions from requiring government employees to pay dues. Erich Mandel, a diesel mechanic from Palatine, claims in the...
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