Ohio Public Employee Settles with Union over Vacation Time
June 10, 2022 | Ohio
A city of Cincinnati employee will receive back vacation time after union officials settled a lawsuit that accused them of stealing vacation time from public employees.
Margaret Lascano, a medical assistant employed by the city, ended her membership and dues deduction in July 2021 in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union, but the union continued to require her to donate up to four hours of vacation time every year to the “union release time bank.”
She sued and, according to the Freedom Foundation, union officials settled and agreed to refund all vacation hours taken from Lascano since she resigned and other nonmembers since February 2020. The union admitted no wrongdoing.
“The court was unambiguous,” said James Abernathy, an attorney with the Freedom Foundation, which teamed up with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, to represent Lascano in the lawsuit. “Compelling public employees to join or financially support an organization whose ideals they disagree with is a violation of their First Amendment rights to free speech and association.”… (Excerpt from The Ohio Star)