Lehnert V. Ferris Faculty Association

Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Association, 500 U.S. 507 (1991) deals with First Amendment rights and Unions in public employment. Due to collective bargaining laws in some states (in this case, Michigan), employees in the public sector (in this case, a university) are often required to either join a union or pay a “service fee” to a union (in this case, the Ferris Faculty Association, Michigan Education Association, and National Education Association) for the collective bargaining services. This case pertains to the usage and collection of union dues in the form of “service fees” from dissenting nonmember employees. The Plaintiffs argued that their required “services fees” are not going toward collective bargaining, but rather toward other union activities with which they disagree (such as political lobbying), and thus the compulsory fees are a violation of their freedom of speech rights. The defendant union argued that their non-bargaining activities are “designed to influence the public employer's position at the bargaining table,” and therefore that they benefit the collective bargaining process. The court found that unions may compel contributions from nonmembers only for the costs of performing its duties as exclusive bargaining agent.