MIDLAND, Mich. — The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit challenging Michigan’s effort to classify home caregivers as state employees for union representation. The lawsuit seeks to enforce the Michigan Constitution’s rules governing state employment and invalidate the election that certified SEIU Healthcare Michigan as the bargaining representative for home caregivers.

The foundation represents James “Jase” Bolger, a former member of the Michigan Civil Service Commission. Bolger brings the lawsuit as a citizen, as the Michigan Constitution allows any citizen to sue to enforce its civil service provisions.

“Michigan’s Constitution puts safeguards around state employment for a reason: to keep politicians from using it to serve special interests,” said Bolger. “Having served on the Civil Service Commission, I understand the importance of those protections. I’m bringing this lawsuit not just because this skim is a scam but because the Legislature cannot sidestep the Constitution to benefit a major donor, no matter how big and powerful that union is.”

Two laws enacted in 2024 classify home caregivers — often friends or family members caring for loved ones in their own homes — as employees of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services solely for collective bargaining purposes. These caregivers receive payments to help adults who cannot independently meet their basic needs remain in a home setting.

The lawsuit argues that lawmakers cannot designate caregivers as state employees while bypassing the Michigan Civil Service Commission’s constitutional authority over state employment. The arrangement imposes union representation on caregivers, the vast majority of whom did not vote to certify SEIU and have little knowledge of the union’s plan to skim money intended for sick and disabled loved ones. The union does not have authority to negotiate caregivers’ wages or working conditions. Caregivers who join the union can have dues deducted from their payments.

“Caring for a loved one at home does not make someone a state employee,” said Derk Wilcox, Mackinac Center Legal Foundation senior attorney. “Lawmakers cannot turn family caregivers into public employees for union purposes while ignoring the constitutional rules governing state employment.”

The new action follows a related lawsuit filed July 30, 2025, on behalf of caregivers Tammy Martin and Dick Sullivan to prevent the union election. That case ended following Sullivan’s death and the death of Martin’s son, which ended her role as his caregiver. The parties agreed to dismiss the case in August 2026 without ruling on the constitutional claims. The new lawsuit brings related unresolved questions before the court.

The Michigan Employment Relations Commission certified the union election on Oct. 9, 2025. With certification complete, the new lawsuit seeks to invalidate the election rather than prevent it. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is now among the defendants because certification triggered its collective bargaining responsibilities.

The challenge continues the Legal Foundation’s work defending home caregivers from unwanted union representation and efforts to divert caregiver payments into union dues. The foundation previously fought an arrangement under which the SEIU skimmed more than $34 million from Michigan home caregivers’ Medicaid payments before the practice ended in 2013. According to OpenSecrets, SEIU ranked in the top 1% of campaign contributors nationwide in the last election cycle, spending more than $35 million, with 99.9% going to Democratic candidates and Democratic-aligned groups.

The lawsuit was filed Oct. 7 in the Michigan Court of Claims against the Michigan Employment Relations Commission and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The complaint and additional case information are available at https://www.mackinac.org/34936.