Annapolis, MD (April 27, 2016) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a Verizon worker in Maryland has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Verizon and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 2107 union. The charges state that Verizon officials illegally deducted Local 2107 fees from the worker’s paycheck which union officials accepted.

Mark Bohrer works for Verizon in Annapolis, Maryland. He is not a Local 2107 member. However, because Maryland lacks a Right to Work law, Bohrer can be forced to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.

In August 2015, the preexisting monopoly bargaining agreement between the CWA and Verizon expired. That contract contained a forced-dues clause which allowed Local 2107 officials to demand fees from Bohrer as a condition of his employment. However, Local 2107 lost the authorization to do so once the contract expired.

Since the contract expired, Verizon officials have continued to illegally deduct Local 2107 fees from Bohrer’s paychecks and remit them to the union. Moreover, Bohrer believes that he never signed a checkoff authorization to allow Verizon officials to deduct union fees from his paycheck. Bohrer has informed Verizon and Local 2107 officials that the fees were illegally seized, but Verizon continues to deduct fees from his paychecks.

When these charges were filed, Verizon and the CWA still had not imposed a new monopoly bargaining contract. The NLRB will now investigate Bohrer’s charges.

“Union officials are apparently more concerned with siphoning off as much money as possible from workers’ paychecks, than respecting the law and the rights of workers they claim to represent,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Bohrer’s case demonstrates the injustice of forced unionism and the immediate need for a Maryland Right to Work law, which would protect all employees’ rights to get or keep a job without being forced to pay union dues or fees.”

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.