Nonmembers of an employee organization required to pay agency shop fees are entitled to a refund of such fees used for union organizing activities

Nonmembers of an employee organization required to pay agency shop fees are entitled to a refund of such fees used for union organizing activities
David H. Scheffer, et al, v The Civil Service Employees Association, Local 828; Civil Service Employees Association; AFSCME, Local 1000, USCA, 2nd Circuit, Docket No. 07-3683-cv, Decided: June 28, 2010

In considering an appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York dismissing claims brought by public-sector employees who, as nonmembers of CSEA,* the union that represents them for collective-bargaining purposes, challenging the organizing fees assessed by the union, the Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that “although the union’s fee disclosure procedures met the relevant constitutional standards, charging these nonmembers “their proportionate share of the costs associated with some of the union’s organizing activities,” violates their First Amendment rights.

The Circuit Court of Appeals also noted that Civil Service Law §208(3)(a) provides that the union must “refund to any employee demanding the return any part of an agency shop fee deduction which represents the employee’s pro rata share of expenditures by the organization in aid of activities or causes of a political or ideological nature only incidentally related to terms and conditions of employment.”

* The decision notes that approximately nine percent of the employees represented by CSEA [approximately 18,700 employees statewide] are not members of the union but who nonetheless are obligated to pay agency shop fees to CSEA.

The decision is posted on the Internet at:
http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/542c6566-bb30-452f-9aec-d6b9856a5341/11/doc/07-3683-cv_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/542c6566-bb30-452f-9aec-d6b9856a5341/11/hilite/