An Act To Prohibit Public Employers from Acting as Collection Agents for Labor Unions
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §629, sub-§4, as repealed and replaced by PL 2007, c. 524, §1, is amended to read:
4. Deduction of service fees. Public employers may not deduct service fees or member dues owed by an employee to a collective bargaining agent from the employee's pay , without signed authorization from the employee, and remit those fees to the bargaining agent, as long as: .
A. The fee obligation arises from a lawfully executed and implemented collective bargaining agreement; and
B. In the event a fee payor owes any arrears on the payor's fee obligations, the deduction authorized under this subsection may include an installment on a payment plan to reimburse all arrears, but may not exceed in each pay period 10% of the gross pay owed.
summary
Current law allows a public employer to deduct service fees owed by an employee to a collective bargaining agent pursuant to a lawful collective bargaining agreement. This bill prohibits a public employer from collecting those fees or collecting member dues.