A retired Chestnut Ridge teacher has joined with two others to file a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law that forces them to pay “fair-share fees” in lieu of union dues.

The lawsuit filed in Johnstown this week focuses on the legality of “union shops,” and it poses the question as to whether thousands of Pennsylvania State Education Association members can eventually recover the fair-share fees they have previously paid.

The three educators named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Sandra H. Ziegler of Bedford, a retired teacher who for 24 years was employed at Chestnut Ridge Middle School; Arthur Diamond, who for 28 years has been employed at the Chichester School District in Delaware County; and Jeffrey Schwartz, a teacher for 26 years in the South Middleton School District, Cumberland County.

They are attempting to bring a class action lawsuit on behalf of an estimated 7,840 school employees who have opted out of membership in the PSEA, which represents 187,000 school employees in the state.

Defendants include the PSEA; the Chestnut Ridge Education Association; Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro; three members of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, James M. Darby, Albert Mezzaroba and Robert H. Shoop Jr.; and Bedford County District Attorney Lesley Childers-Potts.

Shapiro and Childers-Potts are named in the lawsuit because they have the responsibility for enforcing the state law in question.

Closed union shops have traditionally been controversial, and the state law that is the subject of the lawsuit has two separate classes on which the lawsuit focuses: “agency-fee payers” and “religious objectors.”

The fees paid by religious objectors can go to the union or they can be paid to a “nonreligious charity approved by the union,” according to the lawsuit.

Diamond refuses to join the PSEA because he does not approve of the union’s “political advocacy” and believes union officials are paid “excessive salaries.”

He pays a “fair-share fee” to the PSEA.

Schwartz and Ziegler refused to join the PSEA because of union policies that they say contradict their religious beliefs.

Schwartz’s fee has gone to a union-approved charity, but Ziegler has refused to designate a charity. Her fees are still being held in escrow “waiting to be donated,” the lawsuit stated.

PSEA officials reviewed the lawsuit.

“What is clear is that when we respond to fair-share fee payers who have religious objections, we deal with them to the letter of the law. We want to treat them fairly and follow the law precisely. That’s what we have done since that law was enacted,” PSEA Communications Manager David L. Broderic said. “This lawsuit doesn’t involve whether we follow the law, it involves whether the law should exist in the first place.”

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson in Johnstown, who must certify the three plaintiffs represent an entire class of people — those who are exempt from paying dues to the union that represents them.

Broderic said that the fair-share fee payers who are religious objectors are a small slice of the whole;

244 are religious objectors. And of those religious objectors, there are only 11 for whom the labor union has not reached a mutual agreement on a charity to receive their fair-share fees.

“If someone says because of their religious beliefs they don’t feel comfortable paying the fair-share fee, then the next step in the process is identifying a charity where their fair-share fees can be directed. We provide a list to choose from, but it is not an exclusive list,” he said. “The third step under the law is that the charity where the money goes has to be mutually agreed upon by the union and fair-share payer.”

The lawsuit filed by attorney Sean Logue of Carnegie states: “The PSEA’s compelled extraction of money from the representative plaintiffs and their fellow class members violates their constitutional rights — regardless of whether the union keeps the money for itself or directs it toward a union-approved charity.”

Robert Kutz of Altoona, president of the Blair-Bedford Central Labor Council, pointed out that even though an educator decides not to join the union, the bargaining unit still must represent the employee at hearings or when called upon for other matters.

Kutz said fair-share fees are not to be used for union political activities if the payer objects.

He also pointed out that within the next few days the U.S. Supreme Court is to rule on whether these types of fees are a violation of

an employee’s First Amendment rights.

He said he can’t understand why the local educators would challenge the state law without first waiting to see how the Supreme Court rules.

The case before

the Supreme Court is

called Janus v. American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, originating in Illinois.

The lawsuit filed in Johnstown indicates there may be many questions remaining even if the Janus case — as expected — goes in favor the workers who are challenging the fair-share fees.

One of the questions posed in the lawsuit is whether and to what extent state laws that enforce public-employee union shops can survive the Supreme Court’s anticipated ruling in Janus.

Broderic said he is confident the PSEA will continue to provide for its members, regardless of the Janus decision.

“We are waiting for what the Supreme Court decision will be. It could be issued tomorrow or next week. If the objective is to break public sector unions, we are confident that will not occur here. We are extremely proud to represent our 181,000 members and we believe we provide very good services that our members are interested in

continuing to receive,” Broderic said.

While Logue is the attorney of record for the Johnstown lawsuit, a notation on the last page stated that attorney Jonathan F. Mitchell of Austin, Texas, intends to appear on behalf of the plaintiffs.

Mitchell is awaiting Senate confirmation as President Donald Trump’s nominee to be president of the Administrative Conference of the United States, an organization dedicated to making government more efficient and regulation free.

When contacted about the lawsuit, Mitchell stated, “Please report, I have no comment.”

Neither Logue nor Ziegler could be reached for comment.

The lawsuit asks the federal district judge to issue 19 separate findings, including enjoining Wolf, Shapiro, state labor officials and district attorneys from enforcing the state law with regard to fair-share fees.

It is also asking that

the National Education Association and PSEA repay the fair-share fees obtained from the employees.