COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed a friend-of-the-court brief, also known as an amicus brief, in Sheldon v. Ohio Association of Public School Employees, a Buckeye Institute case now before the Ohio Supreme Court that could affect whether public employees can challenge union dues deduction agreements in court.

The case raises a straightforward question: When a worker disputes a dues authorization agreement, may a regular trial court hear the case? The Mackinac Center’s brief says it should.

The brief argues that these are contract disputes and that Ohio courts should be able to decide whether a dues deduction agreement was properly formed, valid, or enforceable.

If the lower court’s ruling stands, workers could be forced to take their claims to a government labor board that cannot fully resolve contract questions, leaving them without a meaningful way to challenge the agreement.

“Courts have been reviewing contracts for hundreds of years,” said Patrick Wright, vice president of legal affairs at the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. “If a worker believes a dues deduction agreement is an invalid contract, that worker should be able to ask a court to review it.”

The Mackinac Center joined other public-interest organizations in filing the brief because the case has broader implications for public employees across Ohio.

The organization argues that courts should not assume lawmakers intended to remove these cases from Ohio courts and send them to a powerless administrative agency without saying so clearly in the law.

The case could shape how future disputes over union dues deduction agreements are handled in Ohio.

Read full amicus brief here: https://www.mackinac.org/litigation/amicus-briefs