Columbus, OH – On Monday, The Buckeye Institute filed its merit brief in Sheldon v. Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE), calling on the Ohio Supreme Court to open Ohio’s courthouse doors to Ohioans fighting to end union wage theft. The Buckeye Institute was supported in its case by several nationally recognized public policy and legal groups that filed briefs in favor of Buckeye’s client, Matthew Sheldon.

“Mr. Sheldon’s case presents the Ohio Supreme Court with the opportunity to clarify once and for all that Ohioans who have quit a government union have a constitutional right to have their union wage theft cases heard in court,” said Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute and an attorney representing Mr. Sheldon.

In its merits brief, The Buckeye Institute argues that in Ohio Council 8, AFSCME, AFL-CIO v. Lakewood, the Ohio Supreme Court re-affirmed that Ohio’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act does not divest courts of jurisdiction over private contractual disputes and that in Keller v. Columbus, the court held that “SERB [State Employment Relations Board] does not have exclusive jurisdiction over every claim that can somehow be cast in terms of an unfair labor practice.” Buckeye further argues that the contract in dispute in this case is a private contract for membership and dues deduction authorization between OAPSE and Mr. Sheldon, and is subject to court jurisdiction.

The Buckeye Institute and Mr. Sheldon are supported by Freedom Foundation, Landmark Legal Foundation, Liberty Justice Center, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

In their amicus brief, Freedom Foundation, Liberty Justice Center, Mackinac Center, and National Right to Work argue that government unions unlawfully block workers’ efforts to leave the union and that Ohio’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act does not strip courts of their jurisdiction over workers’ private contractual disputes with unions. 

In its amicus brief, Landmark argues that the structural similarities between the National Labor Relations Board and SERB make federal precedent relevant in Sheldon v. OAPSE, that federal courts have recognized that the National Labor Relations Act does not displace all common-law claims, and that the Ohio courts have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Sheldon’s contract claims. 

To learn more about Mr. Sheldon’s case and to stay up-to-date on Sheldon v. OAPSE, visit: BuckeyeInstitute.org/SheldonvOAPSE.

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