Tanishia Hubbard v. Service Employees International Union Local 2015, et al.

Petitioners, individual providers Tanishia Hubbard and Kristy Jimenez, never agreed to join a union or pay dues. Despite this, their public employers deducted full union dues from their wages. When Petitioners called the deductions into question, their unions produced electronic membership cards forged to include Petitioners’ names. The resulting involuntary deductions violate Petitioners’ rights to be free from compelled speech pursuant to Harris v. Quinn, 573 U.S. 616 (2014) and Janus v. Am. Fed’n of State, Cnty., Mun. Emps. Council 31, U.S. 878, 929-930 (2018). Despite these precedents, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district courts’ dismissals of Petitioners’ actions, refusing to find that governments and public sector unions violate public employees’ First Amendment rights when they take money from employees’ paychecks without the employees’ consent. The questions presented are:

1. Does the First Amendment protect a nonmember public employee against government deduction of union dues when the employee’s union forged her membership and dues authorization agreement?

2. Does a public sector labor union act under “color of law” when, pursuant to state statute, it directs a government employer to deduct union dues from employees who have never consented? (i)