CHICAGO — A federal judge has ruled a group of Chicago Public Schools teachers can't demand a refund for a years' worth of union dues, saying the Chicago Teachers Union did not violate the educators' First Amendment rights by forcing them to wait nearly a year to rescind their union membership and stop paying dues.
Joanne Troesch and Ifeoma Nkemdi filed their complaint in May 2020, demanding damages for more than 24,000 teachers and other school personnel who belong to the union. They also named the Chicago Board of Education as a defendant for its role in deducting dues from teacher paychecks.
According to the initial complaint, the union allows teachers to opt out every August by supplying written notice. But Troesch and Nkemdi submitted their requests in October 2019, after learning of the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a ruling that established public employees’ First Amendment right to refrain from subsidizing a union’s political positions through dues or fees. The union acknowledged the request and said it would stop collecting dues as of Sept. 1, 2020.
The union and school board asked U.S. District Judge John Lee to dismiss the complaint with prejudice, a request he granted in an opinion filed Feb. 25.
The teachers wanted the August opt-out clause declared unconstitutional and for members to be able to retroactively recover dues and fees. Though the defendants raised two arguments, Lee explained, the first was conclusive: the teachers failed to adequately allege a violation of their First Amendment rights.
Although the teachers correctly applied Janus to show they can’t be compelled to pay union dues, Lee explained the difference is their former status as consenting union members, which makes them subject to the CTU membership agreement and its August opt-out period.
Before Janus, employees who declined union membership and objected to their union’s political positions “still had to pay an ‘agency’ or fair-share fee,” Lee wrote, and that compulsory payment is what violated the First Amendment. Lee said the Janus opinion makes it clear that when an employee affirmatively agrees to pay union dues — though they may later change their minds — they waive the right to claim the dues violate their free speech protections.
Lee said the Supreme Court’s opinion in Janus didn’t disturb its 1991 opinion in Cohen v. Cowles Media Co., a case involving a newspaper’s right to suppress the identity of a confidential source. He wrote he needed to “look no further than Janus and Cohen to dispose of plaintiffs’ First Amendment claims. Indeed, courts have universally recognized that Janus does not articulate a path ‘to escape the terms’ of an agreement to pay union dues, which remain binding under Cohen even where an employee has resigned her membership in CTU.”
The union cards CTU teachers sign clearly state membership “is not a condition of my employment,” Lee noted, adding it is "indeed ‘difficult to imagine’ clearer and more compelling evidence of these waivers than their own signed agreements.” He further said the teachers don’t identify “even a whiff of compulsion” leading them to initially join the union. While they may have terminated their consent in giving notice to leave the union, that notice doesn’t overcome the agreement allowing withdrawal only during a specific time.
Determining any amendment to the complaint would be futile, Lee granted dismissal with prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs cannot attempt to resurrect their lawsuit, except through appeal.
The teachers are represented by the Chicago firm of Morris & De La Rosa, as well as by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, of Springfield, Va.
The CTU has been represented by attorneys with the firms of Bredoff & Kaiser and Dowd Bloch Bennett Cervone Auerbach & Yokich, all of Chicago.