Note: Charter school employees may be classified as public or private, depending on how they are employed, and how their employer is created, operates, and governed. The protected rights available to an employee varies based on this classification. For an explanation of how charter school employees may be classified for purposes of compulsory unionism, please read the section, “Public or Private—Why Does It Matter?”

Public Sector Employees:

As a result of the Foundation’s victory in Janus v. AFSCME, public employees who have religious objections in all states, like all other public employees, may not be required to be a union member or pay dues to a union.

Thus, if you are not now a union member, you can protect your religious beliefs simply by not joining the union at your place of employment. If you are now a union member, you can protect your religious beliefs by resigning your membership and revoking any union dues or fees deduction authorization you may have signed. How you can do that is explained here: How can I resign my union membership and stop paying union dues?

Private Sector Employees:

If you work in a non-Right to Work state, sincere religious objectors may have the right to redirect the entire union fee from the union to a nonunion, nonreligious charity. Again, if you work in a Right to Work state, you have the same rights based on the Right to Work law not to join or financially support unions that public-sector employees do, as discussed above.

To read a copy of “An Employee’s Guide–To Union Dues and Religious Do Nots,” which describes how to obtain as accommodation of an employee’s religious beliefs against joining or financially supporting a labor union, click here.

However, employees who work in the railway or airline industries are not protected by a Right to Work law, and employees who work on a federal enclave may not be. If you would like to see a list of the 26 Right to Work States, click here.