Leer v. Washington Education Ass'n

172 F.R.D. 439, 1997 WL 222873
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedApril 30, 1997
DocketNo. C96-1612Z
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 172 F.R.D. 439 (Leer v. Washington Education Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leer v. Washington Education Ass'n, 172 F.R.D. 439, 1997 WL 222873 (W.D. Wash. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER

ZILLY, District Judge.

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on the plaintiffs’ motions for plaintiff class certification (docket no. 14) and defendant class certification (docket no. 16). The Court, having considered all papers filed in support of and in opposition to the plaintiffs’ motions, including the supplemental briefs requested by the Court,1 hereby GRANTS in part and DENIES in part the motion to certify a plaintiff class, and DENIES the motion to certify a defendant class.

For the reasons stated in this Order, the Court certifies the following two plaintiff subclasses:

(1) Adequacy-of-Notice Claim: All nonmember public school disti’ict employees who at any time from July 1, 1994 through the 1996-1997 school year were or are represented exclusively for purposes of collective bargaining by Defendants and were subject to demands for or collections [442]*442of agency fees for the WEA and any of its affiliates.
(2) Chargeabilitg Claim*: All nonmember employees who at any time from July 1, 1994 through the 1996-1997 school year were required to pay an agency fee to the WEA or NEA under a compulsory unionism agreement with a public employer authorized by RCW 41.59.060 & 41.59.100 and who objected to the WEA-determined fee pursuant to the objection procedures established by the WEA.

The Court DENIES the plaintiffs’ motion for a defendant class as to both the notice and changeability claims.

Background

Each named plaintiff is a public school employee who is not a union member but is represented for collective bargaining purposes by a local association/affiliate of the Washington Education Association. Although the plaintiffs are not members of the union, the union is entitled to charge them a fee, commonly known as an “agency fee,” which represents the nonmembers’ pro rata share of the expenses the union incurs in negotiating and administering the collective bargaining agreement. Agency fees are limited to collective bargaining expenses, and no part of an agency fee may be used to advance the union’s political or ideological goals. If a nonmember discovers that any part of the agency fee has been used for such purposes, the nonmember may file an objection to the fee and seek a rebate of the portion of the fee improperly charged.

Each defendant local affiliate has entered into a collective bargaining agreement that requires the collection of agency fees from all nonmember school employees represented by affiliates of the WEA. Under the governing documents of the WEA and NEA, membership in the local association also constitutes membership in the WEA, NEA, and the area-unde UniServ Council, and thus members must pay dues to all four organizations. Nonmembers, like members, pay fees to all four organizations. The local affiliates serve as agency fee collection agents for the UniServ councils, WEA and NEA; they retain their own local portion and then transmit the balance to the regional, state, and national organizations.

Pursuant to RCW §§ 41.59.060 & 41.59.100, agency fees are equal to the dues paid by union members. If a nonmember objects to using his or her fees for political or ideological purposes, and the nonmember files a timely objection, that nonmember will be required to pay only the “chargeable” portion of the fee, i.e., that portion attributable only to collective bargaining efforts. Each year the NEA and WEA calculate and establish their respective chargeable portion of the fee that objecting nonmembers are required to pay. For the 1996-97 school year, NEA calculated its chargeable fee as 62% of its per capita dues. WEA calculated its chargeable fee as 83.6% of its per capita dues. The local affiliates do not calculate their own portion of the chargeable fee; rather, for administrative convenience, the local affiliates apply the WEA percentage of chargeable activities to determine the local and UniServ council chargeable fees.

The named plaintiffs are twenty objecting nonunion members. The named defendants are the WEA, the NEA, fifteen UniServ Councils, and seventeen “subordinate affiliated local associations” of defendants WEA, NEA, and the respective UniServ Councils.

Plaintiffs seek to have this case proceed as a class action, with two subclasses of plaintiffs and one defendant class. The first putative subclass of plaintiffs consists of “all nonmember public school district employees who at any time since July 1, 1994, and/or any future school year are/were/will be represented exclusively for purposes of collective bargaining by Defendants and were subject to demands for or collections of agency fees for the WEA and any of its affiliates.” Stated simply, the first subclass, if certified, would include all nonmembers obligated to pay agency fees. This group of plaintiffs claims that the Union has collected agency fees without providing the procedural safeguards required by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. They allege specifically that the NEA, WEA, UniServ Councils, and local associations have each failed to provide detailed disclosure of their expenditures, verified by an independent auditor.

[443]*443The second putative subclass of plaintiffs consists of “all nonmember employees who in the 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97 and/or subsequent school years were required to pay an agency fee to the WEA, NEA, and any of their local affiliates under a compulsory unionism agreement with a public employer authorized by ROW §§ 41.59.060 & 41.59.100 and who objected to the WEA-determined fee pursuant to the objection procedures established by the WEA.” This subclass would consist of all nonmembers who have filed objections to the agency fees charged. These plaintiffs challenge the WEA-determined fee and contend that they are paying more than their pro rata share of constitutionally chargeable expenses.

The plaintiffs also seek to certify a class of defendants consisting of “all UniServ Councils and local associations affiliated with Defendant WEA (collectively “local affiliates”) which collect agency fees from nonmembers.” Plaintiffs believe that there are at least 100 such local affiliates of the WEA.

The plaintiffs seek, in addition to injunctive relief, a declaratory judgment that ROW §§ 41.59.060 and 41.59.100, as well as the WEA’s agency shop agreements, and objection and challenge procedures, violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments because (1) members of the first subclass have been required to pay agency fees without receiving adequate disclosure of union expenditures and allocations first, and (2) nonmember employees who challenge the amount of the fee are required to pay agency fees equal to full union dues until the culmination of their challenges, instead of immediately receiving a rebate of the union-determined nonchargeable portion.

The plaintiffs also seek damages. The first subclass seeks an award of compensatory or nominal damages, plus interest. See Complaint at 28, 11G. The second subclass seeks compensatory damages in the amount of the portion of the agency fee unlawfully collectively by the union, with interest, “and such other amounts as principles of justice and compensation warrant.” Id. at 11H. The plaintiffs also seek costs and attorneys’ fees and such other relief as proper.

Discussion

A.

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Bluebook (online)
172 F.R.D. 439, 1997 WL 222873, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leer-v-washington-education-assn-wawd-1997.