You're on Your Own Without a Union

Supreme Court to American Workers: You’re on Your Own Without a Union

In the May 21, 2018 decision in the case titled Epic Systems v. Lewis, the United States Supreme Court, unintentionally, showed that belonging to a union is the only remaining way for workers to fight back against an employer who has violated federal labor laws.  

For nearly 100 years, federal labor laws have afforded all workers the right to collaboratively improve workplace issues and seek redress for mistreatment by their employer.

For union members, this means having a grievance process to address alleged mistreatment by an employer, and the ability to collectively bargain the terms and conditions of our employment.  

For non-unionized workers, “act(ing) collectively” had long included the right of workers to join together and pursue class action lawsuits against an employer who had:  

•    harassed and discriminated against workers based on their race, gender, and  

     sexual identity;

•    intentionally underfunded employee pension plans; 

•    mismanaged employee 401k plans;

•    denied pay to workers they intentionally misclassified, 

•    and more.

However, in their 5-4 decision in May 2018, the Supreme Court dealt a major setback to non-union workers who have been mistreated by their employer.  The court’s decision will allow employers to “bar workers from joining forces in legal actions over problems in the workplace (Supreme Court Deals a Blow to Workers, nytimes.com, 5/21/2018).”

Moving forward, employers can demand that potential employees waive their right to participate in class action lawsuits as a condition of employment.  

Said simply, if you work for an employer who has underpaid, harassed or discriminated against you, or refused to pay you the wages you’ve earned – unless you’re in a union, you are on your own.  

Julie Stein, SOAR Director