Calif. teacher sues state’s teachers union and attorney general

Bethany Mendez, lead plaintiff and teacher in the Fremont Unified School District, said she was not informed she was no longer required to have the annual $1,500 union dues deducted from her pay, as mandated by a June 2018 Supreme Court decision Janus v. AFSCME. Mendez said she “heard about it from my husband” and not by the union.

Lawyers for Mendez and five other California teachers named as plaintiffs, said the suit aims to end what they call “illegal” dues deductions. The plaintiffs also charge California Attorney General Xavier Becerra with failure to enforce the Supreme Court’s decision.

The suit comes after a deeply divided Supreme Court dealt a major blow to public employee unions last year with Judge Samuel Alito writing the decision for the majority. In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan, joined by the court’s three other liberals, accused the majority of “weaponizing the First Amendment.”

President Trump wasted no time saying the decision would help Republicans at the polls. “Big loss for the coffers of the Democrats!” he tweeted at the time.

Supreme Court rules that public sector workers can’t be forced to pay union fees