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The Iowa legislature (or at least a committee within the legislature) is currently considering a bill that may affect Iowa’s Right to Work law. Many people have heard that Iowa is a right to work state. Others may know that most employees in the state are hired as employees “at will.” So what is the difference and will the new law affect employment at will?
Iowa has a “Right to Work” law, which has been on the books for 60 years. Under Iowa’s Right to Work law, no person “shall be deprived of the right to work at the person’s chosen occupation for any employer because of membership in, affiliation with, withdrawal or expulsion from, or refusal to join, any labor union, organization, or association.” Under current law, it is a serious misdemeanor for an employer to refuse to hire a person based upon his/her union membership status. It is also a serious misdemeanor under current law to withhold union dues without the permission of the employee or for a union and/or employer to require that an employee consent to payment of union dues as a condition of employment.
As I understand the current “Fair Share” bill being considered in the Iowa legislature, any employee will remain free to join, not join, or withdraw from a labor union without jeopardizing his or her employment. However, in a “union shop” in which a labor union holds the right to exclusive collective bargaining with the employer, all employees would now be required to pay union dues, regardless of their membership desires. In other words, many Iowa employees that prefer not to be part of a union or that may disagree with the actions or political positions taken by a labor union will be forced to equally contribute to the labor union whether or not they formally join or receive any direct union benefits.
Is it possible that this new legislation will have the reverse effect and that an employer could decline to withhold union dues and refuse to hire a union member based on his/her union status? No. Federal law prohibits employers from refusing to hire union members and/or from prohibiting collective bargaining attempts. In other words, the current legislation is a one-way street. Non-union members may be forced to pay union dues or lose their jobs, but union workers will not be terminated because they belong to the union.
So, how does this affect the “employment at will” status in Iowa. Except for a situation in which an employee refuses to permit union dues to be taken from his/her paycheck, the new proposed legislation likely has little or no effect on employment at will doctrine in Iowa. Employees hired without the benefit of a union collective bargaining agreement that provides for something other than “employee at will” status still serve at the whim of an employer and may be terminated at any time for any lawful reason or for no reason at all. Obviously, employers still cannot terminate workers for unlawful reasons (i.e., race discrimination, age discrimination, in retaliation for filing a worker’s compensation claim, etc.).
Posted by William H. Grell on February 18, 2007 7:45 AM
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