Maryland State Wire

Maryland Attorney General's Office issued the following announcement on July 23.

Maryland Attorney General today issued an advisory

reaffirming public employee rights and employer obligations under state law in response to the

U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31. In the 5 to 4 ruling, the

Court overturned decades of law and practice relating to the right of a union to require the

payment of fair-share agency fees from public-sector unions that serve teachers, police,

firefighters, and other public employees.

Not surprisingly, the decision has generated confusion about the rights of Maryland’s publicsector

workers under Maryland’s labor and collective bargaining laws. In Janus, the Supreme

Court held that public employees who choose not to join a union may no longer be compelled to

pay fair-share agency fees to their exclusive bargaining representative absent the employee’s

affirmative consent. However, the Supreme Court’s ruling does not change the existing rights

of public employees under Maryland’s labor and collective bargaining laws or the relationship

between public-sector unions and their members.

The purpose of the Attorney General’s guidance is to summarize the effect of the Janus decision and to

reiterate the existing protections for public-sector workers in Maryland. For example, eligible State

government employees covered by the State Labor Relations Act (including eligible employees of State

colleges and universities) have the right, among other things, to:

 Form, join, support, or participate in any employee organization;

 Be fairly represented by their exclusive representative in collective bargaining;

 Engage in concerted activities for the purposes of collective bargaining or other mutual

aid or protection;

 Be free from employer interference, restraint, or coercion in the exercise of their rights

under Title 3 of the State Personnel & Pensions Article, as well as to be free from other

unfair labor practices.

The First Amendment also provides public sector employees with the right to freely associate—including

the right to form, join, and belong to unions, and to discuss the advantages of joining. This right is

separate and distinct from Maryland’s collective bargaining laws, and provides an additional layer of

protection for public-sector employees who wish to engage in lawful union activity

Original source can be found here.