Government workers who paid SEIU Local 1989 ‘agency fees’ or ‘fair share’ fees prior to June 2018 may be eligible for a refund.
For decades, teachers, first responders, social workers and other government employees across the U.S. were forced to give part of every paycheck to a government union even if they weren’t union members. These payroll deductions are called “fair share” fees, or “agency fees.”
In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that these deductions are illegal.
What does this mean? If you are a government employee who was not a member of SEIU Local 1989 prior to June 2018, yet paid non-member fees to SEIU then you may be entitled to a refund.
The Supreme Court said in Janus v. AFSCME that government employees cannot be required to pay any dues or fees to a government union. If you are not a union member, you should not be seeing any union deductions on your paycheck.
Prior to the ruling, most government workers paid between $500 and $1,000 a year in union agency fees – sometimes more. Any fees paid before June 2018 were illegal and we may be able to help you get some of that money back.
If you recently retired, not to worry. You do not need to be currently employed by the government to be eligible for a refund.
If you were an SEIU Local 1989 agency fee payer on June 27, 2018 and you are interested in obtaining a refund, please contact us via this form.
What’s the catch?
No catch. The Liberty Justice Center is a not-for-profit public interest law firm that represented Plaintiff Mark Janus, a child support specialist with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, in the landmark case Janus v. AFSCME. We’re now working with other government employees around the country to make sure their constitutional rights and the rights of all public servants are honored.
See frequently asked questions about fair share or agency fees
