Ohio think tank files appeal in case over ‘illegal’ union dues collections

A free-market think tank has appealed a ruling dismissing an allegation that a school union continued to deduct dues from a school custodian’s paycheck even after the custodian left the union.

Matthew Sheldon of Carrollton, backed by the Columbus-based Buckeye Institute, sued the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, demanding that the union stop “illegal wage theft.” Sheldon contended that the union collected dues after he quit the union, partly because he objected to its “political advocacy.”

In April, the Carroll County Court of Common Pleas granted the union’s motion to dismiss the case, saying the court lacked jurisdiction to consider it. The Buckeye Institute filed an appeal brief with Ohio’s Seventh District Court of Appeals, asking the court to reverse the dismissal.

“The facts of this case are not in dispute. Mr. Sheldon has ended his membership in the government union. Under Ohio law, this fact ends his ‘membership contract,’” Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute and an attorney representing Sheldon, said in a release. “What is in question is whether the courthouse doors are open to Mr. Sheldon—and other Ohioans—to bring his case and end the union’s illegal wage theft.”

The Buckeye Institute filed the lawsuit in January. In its appeal, the think tank contends that the lower court made a mistake in dismissing the case and finding that the question is under the purview of the State Employment Relations Board.

The think tank also argued that a separate Ohio Supreme Court decision held that Ohio’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act does not take away jurisdiction over private contractual disputes from courts. The group also said that the state constitution’s “Open Courts Provision” mandates that Sheldon have his day in court.

The Carrollton Exempted Village Schools employed Sheldon for nearly 10 years at the time the lawsuit was filed.

The school custodian signed a dues-deduction authorization card in August 2016. However, he quit the Ohio Association of Public School Employees/American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 541 in December 2023.

Sheldon told the union to stop deducting money from his paycheck upon his resignation. The union briefly complied and ceased deducting dues in April and May 2024.

However, it resumed taking wages from his paycheck in May 2024 “while at the same time not providing services beyond those … the law requires to all members of the bargaining unit, regardless of their membership status,” according to the lawsuit.

In a May 8, 2024, letter to Sheldon that was filed with the lawsuit, OAPSE acknowledged that Sheldon could quit the union. However, the union said Sheldon did not have the right to stop the union from deducting money from his paycheck.

Despite trying to halt the automatic deduction of union dues, OAPSE declined to do so, which the Buckeye Institute said violates Ohio contract law.

Sheldon and the Buckeye Institute also want the union to return the earnings the union took from his paycheck after he quit. The Buckeye Institute charged that the union has been “unjustly enriched” by continuing to collect dues.

Sheldon and the Buckeye Institute cite a 2018 Supreme Court ruling, Janus v. AFSCME. In the decision, justices ruled limiting the window to stop paying mandatory union dues is an illegal restriction on First Amendment rights.

In addition to returning the dues it took from Sheldon’s paycheck, Sheldon and the Buckeye Institute asked the court to order the union to issue an injunction to prevent further union membership dues deductions from Sheldon’s paycheck and declare that Ohio courts have jurisdiction in union contract dispute cases.