Press Release

Attorney General Treg Taylor Asks Supreme Court to Protect the First Amendment Rights of State Employees

August 23, 2023

(Anchorage, AK) – Today, the State of Alaska asked the U.S. Supreme Court to protect state employees’ First Amendment rights to free speech. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31 that states cannot force public employees to support, through their paychecks, union speech that they disagree with.

According to the state’s briefing, Alaska law nevertheless requires the State to do just that. An Alaska statute requires the State to deduct union dues from employees’ paychecks based only on a written authorization received from the Union. The State has no idea whether employees know their rights or have agreed to the authorization. Additionally, the State must keep deducting dues even after an employee asks it to stop.

As explained in the State’s petition, this problem is not limited to Alaska. “Across the country, states will deduct dues simply because the union asserts that it has the employees’ authorization.” And examples abound of unions forcing nonconsenting employees to pay dues. For example, the State of Washington forced more than 5,000 individuals who “explicitly objected to union membership” to pay dues for years.

“Before we take any money from the paychecks of state employees, we need to ensure that the employees were properly advised of their rights and consented to the deduction,” said Governor Mike Dunleavy. “And if employees disagree with union speech, they need to be given an opportunity to opt out. Our payroll system does not adequately protect the constitutional rights of our employees and changes must be made.”

“The promise of Janus is unfulfilled,” said Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor. “States across the country, including our own, continue to deduct money from the paychecks of state employees without clear and compelling evidence demonstrating the employees’ knowing consent. This needs to change, and we need the highest court in the country to step in.”

CONTACT: Assistant Attorney General Jessie Alloway at jessie.alloway@alaska.gov

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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.