Healthcare unions have been dealt a defeat with the National Labor Relations Board ruling that nonmembers cannot be forced to pay for labor groups’ lobbying fees.
The labor board made its ruling in early March, with the majority of members holding that lobbying efforts — though sometimes related to the terms of employment or collective bargaining — are not part of a union’s representation function. Therefore, opposing nonmembers should not be forced to pay those fees, according to an NLRB announcement.
“A union violates its duty of fair representation if it charges agency fees that include expenses other than those necessary to perform its statutory representative functions,” the board wrote.
In their 3-1 decision, NLRB members also ruled that it is not enough for a union to provide objecting nonmembers with assurances that their list of expenses had been appropriately audited. Rather, a union must provide independent verification that an audit had been formed. “Failure to do so violates the union’s duty of fair representation.”
The case, United Nurses & Allied Professionals (Kent Hospital), resolves the National Labor Relation Board’s long-awaited decision related to the expenditure of agency fees for activities other than collective bargaining, administering contracts or adjusting grievances.
The union now has the option to appeal the decision to the appropriate federal appeals court. For nursing homes, the bottom line is that “employees have an equal right to engage in and refrain from union activity,” said Patrick Scully, an attorney with Sherman & Howard LLC.
From the April 1, 2019 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
