Princeton, WV (May 18, 2010) – Service Employees International Union (SEIU) District 1199 union officials have agreed to a statewide settlement after six ResCare group home employees filed several unfair labor practice charges against them.

The employees, with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, challenged the SEIU District 1199 union’s forced dues policy, which violated Foundation-won employee rights upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark decision in Communication Workers of America v. Beck (1988).

In Beck, the Court held that union officials cannot lawfully compel nonmembers to pay the part of union dues spent for non-bargaining union boss activities like political activism, lobbying, and member-only events. The employees also challenged the SEIU union officials’ practice of requiring employees to object to paying full union dues multiple times in order to exercise their rights under Beck.

Under the settlement, SEIU District 1199 union bosses will mail notices to all ResCare employees in West Virginia detailing the employees’ rights to object to full-dues-paying union membership. Further, the settlement requires SEIU District 1199 union bosses to allow ResCare employees in Mercer County, who were told by SEIU officials to join or be fired, to retroactively rescind their union membership and to receive refunds of their forced union dues.

Meanwhile, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina are scheduled to challenge the SEIU District 1199 union hierarchy’s “annual objection” policy before an NLRB administrative law judge in June. The SEIU District 1199 “annual objection” policy is clearly designed to force workers into making full union dues payments against their will.

Five NLRB administrative law judges around the country have held such union fee schemes unlawful.

“These six courageous workers have taken a stand for the rights of all ResCare employees in the Mountain State,” said Patrick Semmens, Director of Legal Information at National Right to Work. “Foundation attorneys will continue to pursue overturning the SEIU union bosses’ illegal membership policy, but West Virginia needs to pass a state Right to Work law making union dues payment completely voluntary in order to end these kinds of compulsory unionism abuses.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.