Kopie v. International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees

Kopie v. International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
Case number: 1:19-cv-13483
Status: Pending before the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
Important dates
Filed: June 6, 2019 District court decision: Pending Appeals court decision:
District court outcome
Pending

This case is one of over a hundred public-sector union lawsuits Ballotpedia tracked following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2018 decision in Janus v. AFSCME. These pages were updated through February 2023 and may not reflect subsequent case developments. For more information about Ballotpedia's coverage of public-sector union policy in the United States, click here. Contact our team to suggest an update.

Kopie v. International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers was filed on June 6, 2019, and is pending before the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The lawsuit challenges the New Jersey Dues Deduction Statute N.J.S.A.§ 52:14-15.9e, which authorizes unions to deduct union dues until the July 1 following an employee’s request to withdraw union membership.

HIGHLIGHTS

The parties to the suit: The plaintiff is Michael Kopie. The defendants are Joel M. Weisblatt, Pasquale V. Papero, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers AFL-CIO Local 195, Paula B. Voos, New Jersey Department of Transportation, Gov. Phil Murphy (D), David Jones, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal (D), Paul Boudreau, and John Bonanni.

The issue: Can unions continue to deduct dues until the July 1 succeeding the date of union resignation?

The presiding judge(s): Judge Renee Bumb was appointed to the case. Bumb was appointed to the court in 2006 by President George W. Bush (R).

The outcome: This lawsuit is pending before the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Procedural history

The plaintiff is Michael Kopie. He is represented by King Moench Hirniak & Mehta, LLP. The defendants are Joel M. Weisblatt, Pasquale V. Papero, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers AFL-CIO Local 195, Paula B. Voos, New Jersey Department of Transportation, Gov. Phil Murphy (D), David Jones, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal (D), Paul Boudreau, and John Bonanni.

• John Bonanni, Paul Boudreau, David Jones, Paula B. Voos, Joel M. Weisblatt, and Pasquale V. Papero are represented by the State Of New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission.
• The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers AFL-CIO Local 195 is represented by Oxfeld Cohen, PC.
• The New Jersey Department of Transportation, Phil Murphy, Gurbir Grewal are represented by the State Of New Jersey.

The plaintiff in Kopie v. International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers first filed his lawsuit on June 6, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Kopie argued that he resigned union membership after the Supreme Court of the United States' ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, but was still charged union dues. Kopie asked the court to declare the New Jersey Dues Deduction Statute, N.J.S.A.§ 52:14-15.9e, which restricts union resignation to the July 1 succeeding the date of notice of union resignation, to be void and unenforceable. Additionally, Kopie sought refunds for dues withheld after the date of his resignation.

• June 6, 2019: Kopie filed his complaint against all defendants.
• October 8, 2019: The court ruled to administratively stay the case due to pending motions in related cases Smith v. New Jersey Education Association, Thulen v. American Federation Of State, County, and Municipal Employees, New Jersey Council 63, and Fischer v. New Jersey Education Association.
• February 5, 2020: The administrative stay was lifted.
• February 28, 2020: Kopie filed an amended complaint.
• April 3, 2020: The defendants filed motions to dismiss.

For a list of available case documents, click here.

Decision

A decision is pending in Kopie v. International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.

Legal context

Janus v. AFSCME (2018)

See also: Janus v. AFSCME

On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a 5-4 decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (Janus v. AFSCME), ruling that public-sector unions cannot compel non-member employees to pay fees to cover the costs of non-political union activities.

This decision overturned precedent established in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education in 1977. In Abood, the high court held that it was not a violation of employees' free-speech and associational rights to require them to pay fees to support union activities from which they benefited (e.g., collective bargaining, contract administration, etc.). These fees were commonly referred to as agency fees or fair-share fees.

Justice Samuel Alito authored the opinion for the court majority in Janus, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch. Alito wrote, "Abood was poorly reasoned. It has led to practical problems and abuse. It is inconsistent with other First Amendment cases and has been undermined by more recent decisions. Developments since Abood was handed down have shed new light on the issue of agency fees, and no reliance interests on the part of public-sector unions are sufficient to justify the perpetuation of the free speech violations that Abood has countenanced for the past 41 years. Abood is therefore overruled."

Related litigation

To view a complete list of the public-sector labor lawsuits Ballotpedia tracked between 2019 and 2023, click here.

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Number of federal lawsuits by circuit

Between 2019 and 2023, Ballotpedia tracked 191 federal lawsuits related to public-sector labor laws. The chart below depicts the number of suits per federal judicial circuit (i.e., the jurisdictions in which the suits originated).