Zoeller v. Sweeney

Plaintiffs, an exclusive-agency union and several of its members and officers (collectively, the Union), filed a complaint against the Attorney General and the Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Labor (collectively, the State), seeking a declaratory judgment that certain provisions of the Indiana Right to Work Law were unconstitutional. The trial court granted relief on the Union’s claim that two provisions of the Indiana Work Law violated Article 1, Section 21 of the Indiana Constitution, which provides that “[no] person’s particular services shall be demanded, without just compensation.” The first challenged provision of the Indiana Work Law prohibits employers from requiring union membership or the payment of monies as a condition of employment, and the second provision makes the knowing or intentional violation of the first provision a Class A misdemeanor. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the two provisions do not violate Section 21 because the challenged provisions do not constitute a demand by the State for particular services. View "Zoeller v. Sweeney" on Justia Law