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Eleven civilian employees of the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (PRPB) have secured a favorable ruling in their federal class action lawsuit against both their employer and the Union of Organized Civilian Employees. The lawsuit accused these entities of illegally discriminating by removing an employer-provided health benefit from employees who chose not to join the union. These employees argued that this action violated their First Amendment rights to abstain from unwanted union affiliation, receiving legal support from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys.
The plaintiffs, Vanessa Carbonell, Roberto Whatts Osorio, Elba Colon Nery, Billy Nieves Hernandez, Nelida Alvarez Febus, Linda Dumont Guzman, Sandra Quinones Pinto, Yomarys Ortiz Gonzalez, Janet Cruz Berrios, Carmen Berlingeri Pabon, and Merab Ortiz Rivera filed the lawsuit in 2022 at the U.S. District Court of Puerto Rico. They based their case on the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME. In that decision, it was ruled that compelling public employees to join or fund a union violates the First Amendment and that union dues can only be taken if an employee waives this right.
On September 19th, the District Court sided with the plaintiffs. It found that PRPB had indeed removed a health benefit after these employees exercised their Janus right not to join or pay dues to the Union of Organized Civilian Employees. “This is either retaliation for exercise of non-union members’ post-Janus non-associational rights under the First Amendment under the Constitution or simply discrimination,” said the Court.
