Labor Authority Finalizes Rule on Canceling Union Dues

The Federal Labor Relations Authority announced a new rule published Thursday that would let employees revoke federal union dues payments at any point during the year after one year in the bargaining unit. Previously, employees only had one opportunity a year to cancel their union dues.

The FLRA rule formalizes a 2-1 decision made in February on the issue.

The rule takes effect 30 days following the publication- roughly August 8, 2020- and would only apply to dues authorized on or after the rule’s effective date.

According to reports from Federal News Network, the decision stems from a request by the Office of Personnel Management following the 2018 Supreme Court decision Janus v. AFSCME Council 31.

“Under Janus, the Supreme Court determined requiring public sector employees to pay union dues was a violation of their First Amendment rights. The decision was mostly seen as a blow for state and local public sector employees. Federal employees who are a part of a bargaining unit don’t have to become dues-paying members unless they want to; membership in a union is voluntary,” Nicole Ogrysko from FNN explained. “But OPM had asked for clarity from the FLRA on this topic, questioning whether a decades-old policy on federal union dues conflicts with the Janus decision and violates employees’ First Amendment rights.”

Ultimately, the FLRA ruled that employees could make changes to union dues withdrawals at any point following a year of membership.

The FLRA received comments on the rule from union groups who argued the change would create “administrative burdens in processing dues-assignment revocations.”

The FLRA rejected these claims based on reports from the Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Peace Corps, and Office of Personnel Management, who have supported adopting the rule.  The USDA specifically reported that it “does not foresee any negative impacts of the implementation of the proposed rule on the [a]gency.”

The rule also notes that each employee’s revocation window is currently dependent entirely on the date that individual employee first authorized the assignment or when the assignment became effective, and that “such a system does not beget administrative simplicity.”  Thus, the FLRA does not accept arguments that the new rule would increase administrative burdens.

Finally, the rule notes that, “To the extent that the rule does increase administrative burdens on unions, we note that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) has recognized – and we agree – that section 7115(a) is designed primarily for the benefit of the employee, not the union… Thus, in balancing the competing interests of employees in having greater freedom to revoke their dues assignments, and unions in having revocation procedures with minimal administrative burdens, we find that the rule as written properly weighs the employees’ interests more heavily.”

A review of all comments and justifications for the change is available in the final rule.