Your Janus Rights Are Eight Years Old. You Can Still Use Them Today.
MyJanusRights.org — National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
On September 28, 2017, the Supreme Court granted Mark Janus’s petition and agreed to hear his case. On June 27, 2018, Mark Janus won.
The Supreme Court ruled that no public employee in America can be forced to pay a union to keep a government job. If you work for a state, city, county, school district, or other public employer, that ruling is your right.
This page exists so you can use it.
How the Case Was Argued
Mark Janus was an Illinois child-support specialist. He was not a union member. Illinois law still took money from his paycheck for AFSCME.
At oral argument on February 26, 2018, National Right to Work attorney William L. Messenger told the Court why Mark Janus should win:
“Abood should be overruled because it failed to apply heightened First Amendment scrutiny to a compulsory fee for speech to influence governmental policies.”
When the other side said unions would be weaker if workers could keep their money, Messenger answered:
“To the degree to which the union resources are diminished by individuals exercising their First Amendment right not to subsidize that union, I submit that’s a perfectly acceptable result.”
He closed by rejecting forced fees as the price of avoiding strikes:
“That … would make agency fees effectively a form of protection money.”
Justice Kennedy then described exactly what was happening:
“What we’re talking about here is compelled justification and compelled subsidization of a private party, a private party that expresses political views constantly.”
When the union’s lawyer admitted that ending forced fees would reduce the union’s political power, Kennedy asked:
“Isn’t that the end of this case?”
Justice Alito put the human cost in one sentence:
“When you compel somebody to speak, don’t you infringe that person’s dignity and conscience…?”
The Court answered those questions four months later.
What the Court Ordered
The 5–4 decision overruled Abood and set a simple rule:
You do not pay unless you say yes.
From the opinion:
“States and public-sector unions may no longer extract agency fees from nonconsenting employees.”
“Neither an agency fee nor any other payment to the union may be deducted from a nonmember’s wages … unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay.”
Affirmative consent means a clear, knowing choice—not a card you signed years ago under the old law, not silence, and not a short “opt-out window” designed to trip you.
What Thousands of Public Employees Have Done
Since 2018, large numbers of teachers, state workers, city employees, firefighters, and other public servants have stopped the deductions.
Credible estimates based on payroll and public-records data put the number of government employees who left the dues rolls or never joined at roughly 1 million to 1.3 million. Some studies of specific units show 15–35 percent of represented workers no longer paying.
Those workers kept their jobs. They kept their pay and benefits. They simply stopped funding speech they did not choose.
You can do the same.
How to Exercise Your Rights
- Go to the Forms page on this site.
- Choose the Union Member form or the Non-Member form, depending on your status.
- Complete it, sign it, and send it to your union and your employer as directed.
- If deductions do not stop, contact the Foundation. Legal help is free.
That is the entire process. No rally. No permission slip from the union.
The one sentence you need:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME (2018) that no public employee can be forced to pay any money to a union as a condition of employment.
If money is still leaving your paycheck without your current, affirmative consent, it is time to send the letter.
Your rights. Your choice. Your freedom.