The federal class-action lawsuit, Mattos v. AFSCME Council 3, seeks to recoup “agency” fees paid by Maryland state employees before the US Supreme Court ruled the mandatory fees were unconstitutional.
This article first appeared September 4, 2019 on Fox45 News.
BALTIMORE (WBFF) – A Federal lawsuit is seeking a refund of nearly $7 million on behalf of State workers in Maryland who claim they were forced to pay Union fees as a condition of employment.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday morning in Federal Court, represents 19 Maryland State Employees including Correctional Dietary Officer, Gary Mattos. “I found out I was paying over $400 a year just to have a state job,” Mattos says, “And I think that’s wrong.”
Filed against AFSCME Council 3, one of the largest unions in the state of Maryland, the class action lawsuit is seeking a refund of roughly $7 million dollars. Senior Attorney for Liberty Justice Center, Brian Kelsey says, “We estimate that half of state workers, 10,000 people did not want to join the Union, and yet AFSCME took these union fees from them.”
For years the Union was collecting fees from all employees, in addition to dues from the Union’s members. Last year the Supreme Court ruled that it is illegal to require public employees to pay union fees now those workers want that money back. Kelsey says, “The Unions might say the fees were legal at the time they were taken, but unions like AFSCME knew that what they were doing was wrong and they knew that the court would rule against them.”
