Union fee policy upheld by Nevada Supreme Court

Friday, May 5, 2000 | 11:01 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- In a victory for organized labor, the Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday ruled unions can charge non-union members for representing them in grievance and arbitration hearings.

The court said unions have the obligation to represent all employees in a bargaining unit whether the members are union or nonunion. But unions also have the right to set policy to defray costs. This will "in part, serve to discourage 'free riders' -- employees who receive the benefits of union representation but are unwilling to contribute to its financial support."

These policies by unions do not violate Nevada's "Right to Work" law because the nonmembers are not required to pay union dues to hold on to their jobs, the court said.

The case involved three employees at University Medical Center in Las Vegas who were among the 100 workers who bolted from the union in October 1994 and refused to pay any more dues to Nevada Service Employees Union /SEIU Local 1107.

At about the same time, the union adopted a new policy requiring nonunion employees to pay the costs when the union represents them in grievance cases. The fee is $60 an hour for consultation and up to $200 an hour when a union attorney represents them.

The three nonunion employees -- Annice Cone, Sharon Mallory and Karl Schlepp -- said this policy discriminated against them. The union, as the bargaining representative for all employees, was required to represent them free of charge even though they didn't pay dues, they said.

The Supreme Court noted the law allows the members to hire their own attorneys in grievance cases and not be represented by the union. Implicit in this law is "the requisite that a non-union member pay for pursuing his or her own grievance, even if such payment is made to the union.

"Accordingly, we conclude that there is nothing in the plain language of NRS 288.027 that would prohibit the union from charging non-members fees for individual representation," the court said. But it noted that this applies in individual cases, not in instances where a class of employees is pursing a grievance.

This doesn't violate the Right to Work law, the court said "because paying a service fee for grievance representation is not a condition of employment. Indeed, an individual may opt to hire his or her own counsel, and thereby forego giving the union any money at all without fear of losing his or her job."

Nevada's right to work law gives an individual the right to work for a business whether he or she belongs to a union that may be the bargaining agent with that employer.

The decision, signed by the panel of Chief Justice Bob Rose and Justices Bill Maupin and Miriam Shearing, upholds a ruling by Justice Nancy Becker when she was a district judge in Las Vegas before her election to the Supreme Court.