Executive Summary: In a decision that could have a significant financial impact on many labor unions, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that personal care providers, who are considered state employees only for limited collective bargaining purposes under Illinois law, cannot be required to pay agency fees. In Harris v. Quinn (June 30, 2014), the Court refused to apply its 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which upheld the imposition of agency fees on non-union state employees, to these individuals because they are not “full-fledged” public employees. The Court further held that the agency fee provision violates the personal care providers’ First Amendment rights, and that they cannot be compelled “to subsidize speech on matters of public concern by a union that they do not wish to join or support.”
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