Columbus, OH – On Tuesday, The Buckeye Institute filed its brief asking the Ohio Supreme Court to accept jurisdiction in Vanderveer v. Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) and either hold it pending the court’s decision in Sheldon v. OAPSE or consolidate it with Sheldon—one of The Buckeye Institute’s other cases seeking to end union wage theft practices that is pending Ohio Supreme Court review.

“In Sheldon v. OAPSE, the Ohio Supreme Court has already agreed to decide whether Ohio’s courthouse doors are open for Ohioans to bring cases to stop union wage theft,” said Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute and an attorney representing Mrs. Vanderveer and Mr. Sheldon. “Given the similar experience Mrs. Vanderveer has suffered at the hands of OAPSE, The Buckeye Institute urges the court to accept jurisdiction in Vanderveer v. OAPSE, too.”

In its appeal of Vanderveer v. OAPSE, The Buckeye Institute argues that only the Ohio Supreme Court can resolve the jurisdictional dispute between lower courts, which have ruled it is the exclusive jurisdiction of the State Employment Relations Board (SERB) to decide these cases, and SERB, which says these questions do not raise an unfair labor practice, without making it clear if it is asserting jurisdiction or not. Resolving this important question will reduce needless litigation by instructing lower courts and SERB on which body must hear these claims. 

The Buckeye Institute further argues that the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision in Ohio Council 8, AFSCME, AFL-CIO v. Lakewood, unambiguously affirmed that Ohio’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act does not strip courts of their jurisdiction over private contractual disputes, and that the Ohio Constitution’s Open Courts Provision requires the courthouse doors to be opened to Ohioans with these claims.

Read more of Mrs. Vanderveer’s story and stay up-to-date on Vanderveer v. OAPSE at BuckeyeInstitute.org/VanderveervOAPSE. 

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