Vanderveer 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 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 paying 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, Katrina Vanderveer—signed contracts 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 that their practices are illegal and that they must stop 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 taken out of their paychecks once the employees tell the unions to stop taking their money.

In Vanderveer v. OAPSE, The Buckeye Institute is asking the court to order the government unions to:

Stop taking money out of Mrs. Vanderveer’s paycheck;
Issue an injunction to prevent further union membership dues deductions from her paycheck;
Refund money taken from Mrs. Vanderveer after she quit the government union;
Award Mrs. Vanderveer costs and attorneys’ fees; and
Declare whether SERB or Ohio courts have jurisdiction in union contract dispute cases.

About Buckeye’s Clients

For 10 years, Katrina Vanderveer has worked with high schoolers as a paraprofessional, and for the past three years, she has worked at Pike-Delta-York High School in the Pike-Delta-York Local School District, helping teachers and students. Helping these students isn’t just a job for Mrs. Vanderveer; it is a calling and a way to serve her community and its kids. It is a role she first took on by volunteering in her own children’s classrooms; she then began substituting and became a full-time paraprofessional.

As anyone who works in a school knows, days are never the same, but Mrs. Vanderveer starts most days as a monitor in the cafeteria. She then alternates between monitoring study halls and helping in history classes. The most rewarding part of her job is working with students to help them with assignments and homework. At the end of each day, Mrs. Vanderveer helps 9th graders struggling or even failing in their classwork. She helps them get back on track with assignments and homework and spends time mentoring these students, a vital role that, for many, is the difference between failure and success. Mrs. Vanderveer also works with students who have disabilities. For one student who is blind, she helps the student convert their class notes into a readable format for the blind. In addition to all this, Mrs. Vanderveer creates study guides for students to help them succeed in their class work. But it isn’t just the students who benefit from Mrs. Vanderveer’s work. The vital role she fills at Delta High School enables teachers to focus on teaching in the classroom.

One part of her job that Mrs. Vanderveer does not care for is the government union—the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE). Mrs. Vanderveer isn’t opposed to unions. In fact, her husband is a member of a union that is very supportive of its members, but the OAPSE environment is not one she wants to be a part of.

Mrs. Vanderveer’s saga to quit the union started almost as soon as she joined—something she thought she was required to do. In June 2024, she sent a letter to the union notifying them that, effective immediately, she was quitting the union and demanding that the union stop taking dues from her paycheck. The union refused her request and informed Mrs. Vanderveer that her opt-out window to end dues deductions started on October 4. On October 4, 2024, Mrs. Vanderveer sent another letter as the union instructed. However, despite being told this was when her opt-out window was open, the government union again refused to stop taking money out of her paycheck. Yet one of Mrs. Vanderveer’s co-workers who was also dissatisfied with the union sent an opt-out letter the very next day and it was accepted without issue. In addition to numerous calls and emails, Mrs. Vanderveer sent another letter on November 12 and another on December 9. The government union was utterly unhelpful, to the point that Mrs. Vanderveer questioned whether the union was drawing this out intentionally.

All Mrs. Vanderveer is asking is for OAPSE to stop stealing money from her paycheck and return the money illegally taken from her since she quit the union in June 2024.

Facts of the Case

Current Status
Fulton County Court of Common Pleas

Originally Filed
April 22, 2025

Case Number
25CV000093

Lawyers
Jay R. Carson, senior litigator, The Buckeye Institute
David C. Tryon, director of litigation, The Buckeye Institute
Alex M. Certo, legal fellow, 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, 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 her paycheck. The Buckeye Institute also asks the court to declare whether SERB or Ohio courts have jurisdiction in union contract dispute cases.

Timeline of the Case

April 22, 2025
The Buckeye Institute files Vanderveer v. OAPSE in the Fulton County Court of Common Pleas.