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Swanner v. OAPSE |
For media inquiries, please contact:
Lisa Gates, vice president of communications
(614) 224-3255 or Lisa@BuckeyeInstitute.org
Background on the Case
Key Questions in the Case: Can a union continue to collect dues for the duration of the union contract from people who have quit the union and are no longer members? Can a union place limitations on when and how a member may leave the union and impose a penalty for leaving?
On June 27, 2018, the United States Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, holding that public employees cannot be forced to support political speech or other activities without their affirmative consent. This opinion reinforced the law regarding public employees’ rights to avoid compelled payments to the unions chosen to represent them.
Despite the historic court decision, many government unions have refused to recognize workers’ Janus rights and have continued to illegally take money from public employees’ paychecks—employees whom the unions themselves have acknowledged have quit the union and are, therefore, no longer union members. Using a legal sleight-of-hand to claim that workers can quit the government union, but they must keep pay union dues until they request to opt out, which they can do only during a specified opt-out window that may be months or even years in the future, government unions claim that they can keep taking money from workers’ paychecks regardless of the fact that these workers are not members of the union.
These government unions claim that the employees—in this case, Shannon Swanner—signed a contract authorizing the unions to keep deducting membership dues from their paychecks even after they are no longer members of the union. Ohio’s law simply does not allow this unethical practice, and it is time for the court to tell the unions and the government to stop illegally taking money from workers’ paychecks.
To make matters worse, the courts tell workers that they need to file these cases with the State Employment Relations Board (SERB), and SERB tells workers that they have no jurisdiction in contract disputes and that workers need to file these cases in court. This Catch-22 leaves Ohio’s hardworking public employees with nowhere to go to recoup money illegally taken out of their paychecks.
In Swanner v. OAPSE, The Buckeye Institute is asking the court to order the government union to
- Stop taking money out of Mrs. Swanner’s paycheck;
- Refund money taken from her after she quit the government union;
- Issue an injunction to prevent further union membership dues deductions from her paycheck;
- Award Mrs. Swanner’s costs and attorneys’ fees; and
- Declare that Ohio courts have jurisdiction in union contract dispute cases.
About Buckeye’s Client
For more than a decade, Shannon Swanner of Norwalk, Ohio, has served as a licensed nurse with the Lorain County Board of Developmental Disabilities, serving more than 3,000 people with disabilities in Lorain County, helping them to lead better, more independent lives. On June 14, 2023, Mrs. Swanner informed the government union—the Ohio Association of Public School Employees/American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 771—that she was quitting effectively immediately and that the union should stop taking money out of her paycheck. While the government union acknowledged Mrs. Swanner was no longer a member of the union on June 29, 2023—devoting more than 100 words outlining why she should “carry [her] share of the load,” it allotted only 10 words on ending paycheck deductions, writing, “The attempted cancellation of your dues deduction is untimely.” To Mrs. Swanner’s employer, they wrote, “membership dues deduction are to continue uninterrupted,” no explanation, no reason given.
Although it was easy to understand what “untimely” meant, the government union refused to inform Mrs. Swanner what a timely request was or why she had to jump through so many hidden hoops to end this now-illegal wage theft. Mrs. Swanner followed up with multiple requests throughout 2023 and 2024, only to be ignored, brushed aside, and disrespected. Despite numerous attempts to learn how to end the paycheck deductions, neither Mrs. Swanner’s employer nor the government union could or would tell her when the union opt-out window was, nor would they provide her with a satisfactory resolution to end the union’s illegal wage theft.
After more than a year and a half, Mrs. Swanner is going to court to get back her stolen wages.
Facts of the Case
Current Status
Lorain County Court of Common Pleas
Originally Filed
February 13, 2025
Case Number
Pending
Lawyers
Jay R. Carson, senior litigator, The Buckeye Institute
David C. Tryon, director of litigation, The Buckeye Institute
J. Simon Peter Mizner, legal fellow, The Buckeye Institute
Claims in the Case
Deducting union membership dues from the paychecks of a worker who has quit the union is illegal because the “contract” between the union and the employee was rescinded or voided. This assertion is based upon Ohio contract law, specifically the doctrines of recission based on mutual repudiation, mutual mistake, unenforceable penalty, unconscionable contracts of adhesion, and unjust enrichment.
The Buckeye Institute’s client is asking for damages in the amount of the union membership dues taken from her after she quit the government union, and she is requesting an injunction to prevent further union membership dues deductions from his paycheck. The Buckeye Institute also asks the court to declare that Ohio courts have jurisdiction in union contract dispute cases.
Related Cases
Littlejohn v. AFSCME
Sheldon v. OAPSE
Timeline of the Case
February 13, 2025
The Buckeye Institute files Swanner v. OAPSE in Lorain County Court of Common Pleas.
