by J.D. Davidson
The union that represents school bus drivers agreed to return the money it deducted from the paycheck of a northeast Ohio driver to settle a lawsuit.
The Ohio Association of Public School Employees agreed David Krizon acknowledged quitting the union and would give the money back it collected after he quit in a settlement, according to The Buckeye Institute.
“Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, government unions continue to illegally take wages from hardworking public employees,” said Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute and the lead attorney representing Krizon. “Mr. Krizon’s case is another example in a long list of cases where public employees are forced to go to court to get unions to respect their constitutional rights. And this victory reaffirms the principle that public workers can’t be required to pay dues to unions after they quit the union.”
Krizon, a bus driver with the Minerva Local Schools, told the district and the union he was ending his membership in June 2022 and wanted the district to stop deducting dues from his paycheck.
OAPSE told Krizon his membership resignation was processed, but his request to end dues deduction was rejected, calling it “untimely.”
The Buckeye Institute called that a violation of the Janus ruling.
According to the lawsuit, the school district stopped taking money from Krizon’s paycheck and giving it to the union. However, in February 2023 – more than six months after the illegal dues deductions had ended – the union representative pressured the district to again take money out of Krizon’s paycheck and give it to OAPSE.
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An Ohio native, J.D. Davidson is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience in newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He has served as a reporter, editor, managing editor and publisher. Davidson is a regional editor for The Center Square.
