Michigan employment board sides with former lunch aide against MEA, DeWitt school union

LANSING — A state employment board sided with a former DeWitt Public Schools employee in a Right to Work case she filed against state and local school workers unions in 2013.

The Michigan Employment Relations Commission on May 1 ordered the Michigan Education Association and DeWitt Educational Support Personnel Association to accept a membership resignation of Kimberly Stepanski and refund her outstanding dues.

Stepanski was a lunch room assistant for the schools when the dispute started. She no longer works for the district, Superintendent John Deiter said in an email.

The school district was also required to post a notice to alert employees about the commission's decision.

Stepanski attempted to resign from the union and stop paying union dues in November 2013, about a year after then-Gov. Rick Snyder signed bills that made Michigan a Right to Work state. The law, also known as Freedom to Work, means Michigan workers are not required to pay union dues.

In April 2014, union officials told Stepanski she had to continue paying dues because her request to leave the union fell outside the union's August opt-out window.

Stepanski was sent a $91.92 bill for membership dues and paid $24.13, records show.

She filed an unfair labor practice complaint in 2013 with the backing of the National Right to Work Foundation, a foundation press release states.

The Michigan Education Association no longer enforces opt-out window periods, spokesman Doug Pratt said.

Stepanski's case was filed before the employment commission ruled those periods were unlawful in 2015. The Michigan Court of Appeals supported that ruling in 2017.

"Most of these cases have been settled," Pratt said. "For whatever reason, this one didn’t, and went through to hearing. The results of the hearing and the ruling are really no different than what the case calls for. We are recognizing the member’s resignation and moving forward."

In a release sent Friday, National Right to Work President Mark Mix said he hopes union officials focus on convincing Michigan workers "to voluntarily choose union activities."

Contact Carol Thompson at (517) 377-1018 or ckthompson@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @thompsoncarolk.