Learning Team ‘A’ Reflection: Week Four IRAC Brief
LAW/531
May 12, 2014

Learning Team ‘A’ Reflection: Week Four IRAC Brief
The Michigan Court of Appeals heard a case that involved the legality of forcing employee’s “to pay union dues or fees just to keep their jobs, despite the fact they do not belong to the union nor sought the union's so-called representation” ("Workers Defend Free Choice For Workers Against Spurious Union Boss Legal Challenge", 2014). The court ruled in favor of Michigan’s Right to Work Law that states, employees are not required to pay Union dues. The court stated that “the state had the power to make union membership optional” (Livengood, 2014). In this brief, we will identify how the legal concept of Right to Work is applied to relieve employees of compulsory union fees in a managerial setting using the IRAC method.
Issue – Are mandatory service fees payable to collective bargaining agencies constitutional for state civil service non-union employees?
Rule – “Agency shop” policies enforcing compulsory union fees may force employees to go against their own principles [Ellis v (Brotherhood of Railway, Airline & Steamship Clerks, 466 US 435, 455; 104 S Ct 1883; 80 L Ed 2d 428 (1984)]. Prohibiting or forcing employees to support ideological beliefs and unions violates a person’s constitutional right in the eyes of the State of Michigan.
Analysis – The Michigan Court of Appeals considered the limits of the law to avoid infringing on laws superseding the State (Federal laws). During the analysis of the court, questions of protected constitutional rights (1st amendment) outweighed previously written state laws requiring employees to pay union fees as a condition for employment, regardless of the employee’s affiliated status (Const 1963, art 11, § 5). The previously written laws implied unionization due to the necessity of members