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Sheldon 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 only during specified opt-out windows 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, Matthew Sheldon—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 Sheldon v. OAPSE, The Buckeye Institute is asking the court to order the government union to:
- Stop taking money out of Mr. Sheldon’s paycheck;
- Refund money taken from him after he quit the government union;
- Issue an injunction to prevent further union membership dues deductions from his paycheck; and
- Declare that Ohio courts have jurisdiction in union contract dispute cases.
- The Buckeye Institute’s client is asking for damages in the amount of the union membership dues taken from him after he quit the government union, and he is requesting an injunction to prevent further union membership dues deductions from his paycheck.
About Buckeye’s Client
Matthew Sheldon has kept the schools in Carrollton Exempted Village Schools clean for students and teachers for nearly 10 years. His job is too often a thankless one, but Mr. Sheldon has served with dedication and commitment. In December 2023, after nearly a decade as a member of the government union, Mr. Sheldon chose to exercise his 1st Amendment Janus rights and quit the government union—Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE)/American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Local 541 of the AFL-CIO—and instructed the union to stop taking money out of his paycheck.
The union’s response…nothing for more than four months. Then, in April 2024, the government union belatedly honored Mr. Sheldon’s request and stopped taking money out of his paycheck but resumed their illegal wage theft in May 2024, inexplicably at the same time OAPSE acknowledged that Mr. Sheldon had the right to quit the union. Apparently—according to union officials—he had the right to quit the government union but did not have the right to stop the union from taking money out of his paycheck. Despite repeated efforts to stop the automatic deduction of union membership dues from his paycheck, OAPSE has refused in violation of Ohio contract law.
All Mr. Sheldon wants is for OAPSE to stop stealing money from his paycheck and return the money illegally taken since he quit the union in December 2023. For honorable people and organizations, these should not be unreasonable requests to honor.
Facts of the Case
Current Status
Carroll County Court of Common Pleas
Originally Filed
January 16, 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 him after he quit the government union, and he is requesting an injunction to prevent further union membership dues deductions from his paycheck. The Buckeye Institute also asks for the court to declare that Ohio courts have jurisdiction in union contract dispute cases.
Related Cases
Littlejohn v. AFSCME
Timeline of the Case
January 16, 2025
The Buckeye Institute files Sheldon v. OAPSE in Carroll County Court of Common Pleas.
