Molina v. Pa. Soc. Serv. Union

392 F. Supp. 3d 469
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 18, 2019
DocketNo. 1:19-cv-00019
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 392 F. Supp. 3d 469 (Molina v. Pa. Soc. Serv. Union) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Molina v. Pa. Soc. Serv. Union, 392 F. Supp. 3d 469 (M.D. Pa. 2019).

Opinion

(Judge Kane )

Presently before the Court are Defendants Stephen Catanese, Pennsylvania Social Service Union, Service Employees International, and Lehigh County Board of Commissioners' ("Defendants") motions to dismiss Plaintiff Francisco Molina ("Plaintiff")'s first amended complaint (Doc. No. 20) pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) (Doc. Nos. 27, 28). Having heard oral argument on the motions on June 4, 2019, and upon review of the record, the parties' arguments, and the applicable law, for the reasons that follow, the Court will grant the motions.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background1

1. Plaintiff's Employment and the Collective Bargaining Agreement ("CBA")

Plaintiff, a resident of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, is a former employee of the Office of Children and Youth Services of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. (Doc. No. 20 ¶ 8.) As a Social Services Aide, Plaintiff was a "public employe" for purposes of Pennsylvania's Public Employee Relations Act ("PERA"), codified at 43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 1101.101, et seq., "and was in a bargaining unit exclusively represented for purposes of collective bargaining by" Defendant Pennsylvania Social Service Union, Service Employees International, Local 668 ("Defendant PSSU"), which is an "employe organization" and "representative" under PERA. (Id. ¶¶ 8-9.) Defendant Stephen Catanese ("Defendant Catanese") is the president of PSSU (id. ¶ 10), and Defendant Lehigh County Board of Commissioners *472("Defendant Lehigh County") acts as the legislative arm of Lehigh County's government and sets wages for county employees (id. ¶ 11). Accordingly, Defendant Lehigh County approved the collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") "setting forth [Plaintiff's] terms and conditions of employment." (Id. ) Defendants PSSU and Lehigh County "have entered into the CBA, which controlled the terms and conditions of [Plaintiff's] employment." (Id. ¶ 12.) Defendants PSSU and Lehigh County "agreed to the term of the CBA, which is January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2018" and "are expected to continue to operate pursuant to the terms and conditions of the CBA, including those for [Plaintiff's] position, until they reach a successor agreement." (Id. ¶¶ 13-14.)

2. Relevant Provisions of the CBA and PERA

The CBA includes, in relevant part, a "Union Security" article that, according to Plaintiff, "prohibits union members from resigning their union membership when and how they see fit." (Id. ¶ 15.) Specifically, this provision reads as follows:

3.1. Each employee who, on the effective date of this Agreement is a member of the Union, and each employee who becomes a member after the date shall maintain his/her membership in the Union, provided that such employee may resign from the Union during a period of fifteen (15) days prior to the expiration of this Agreement. The payment of dues and assessments uniformly required of the membership shall be the only requisite employment condition[;]
3.2. The Employer agrees to deduct the bi-weekly membership dues from the pay of those employees who individually request in writing that such deductions be made. The amounts to be deducted shall be certified to the Employer by the Union, and the aggregate deductions of all employees shall be remitted together with an itemized statement to the Union by the last day of the succeeding month, after such deductions are made. Except as otherwise provided in Section 3.1 of this Article, the authorization shall be irrevocable during the term of the Agreement[;]
3.3 The Union may demand the discharge of any employee who, on any tender date specified, fails to comply with the provisions of this Section, by serving written notice thereof on the Employer no later than ten (10) calendar days after such tender date, if, prior to such tender date, the Union has notified the employee of the exact amount of the financial obligation due to the Union. As soon as the Employer verifies that the employee specified in such written notice failed to comply and that the discharge of the employee would not otherwise be unlawful, the Employer shall discharge the employee.

(Id. ) (citing Doc. No. 20-1, CBA art. III, §§ 3.1-3.3).

Article III, Section 3.1 of the CBA also "imposes a maintenance of membership requirement mirroring, in substantive part, PERA's maintenance of membership provision" (id. ¶ 16), which defines the term "maintenance of membership" as meaning that:

all employes who have joined an employe organization or who join the employe organization in the future must remain members for the duration of a collective bargaining agreement so providing with the proviso that any such employe or employes may resign from such employe organization during a period of fifteen days prior to the expiration of any such agreement.

43 PA. CONS. STAT. § 1101.301(18). Additionally, Section 1101.705 of PERA articulates that "[m]embership dues deductions and *473maintenance of membership are proper subjects of bargaining with the proviso that as to the latter, the payment of dues and assessments while members, may be the only requisite employment condition." See id. § 1101.705. Also of note is Section 1101.401 of PERA, which, according to Plaintiff, "explicitly limits the rights of public employees as to 'maintenance of membership' " (Doc. No. 20 ¶ 16) by stating that:

It shall be lawful for public employes to organize, form, join or assist in employe organizations or to engage in lawful concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection or to bargain collectively through representatives of their own free choice and such employes shall also have the right to refrain from any or all such activities, except as may be required pursuant to a maintenance of membership provision in a collective bargaining agreement.

43 PA. CONS. STAT. § 1101.401. As stated by Plaintiff, both the CBA and PERA, therefore, "limit a public employee's right to resign from PSSU to only the 15-day window immediately preceding the expiration of the CBA." (Doc. No. 20 ¶ 17.) Additionally, Article III, Section 3.2 of the CBA "provides for the deduction of union dues." (Id. ¶ 18.)

Plaintiff also states that Defendant PSSU "and/or its officials represent to membership that [S]ection 3.3 of the CBA's Article III is applicable to PSSU members and nonmembers, such that PSSU members would be terminated if unable or unwilling to pay union dues." (Id.

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392 F. Supp. 3d 469, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/molina-v-pa-soc-serv-union-pamd-2019.