With the 2023-2024 school year quickly approaching, many individuals have employment and education at the forefront of their minds, including the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.  On July 28, 2023, the Eighth Circuit granted a union and public school district’s motion to dismiss school food service managers’ claims for violations of § 1983 and the First Amendment when the union deducted union dues from the employees’ paychecks before and after they resigned from the union.  Specifically, the Court held deducting union dues from employees’ paychecks was not state action.  Thus, the employees could not bring claims under § 1983 against the union for violating employees’ First Amendment rights.  Assuming that the school district’s deduction of union dues was state action, the employees’ First Amendment rights were not violated by the deductions, which were made in accordance with a valid contract between the union and the employees.  For more information, see the link below:

Burns v School Service Employees Union Local 284

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