Trainer group sues over Tennessee legislation that bans deduction of members’ dues from their paychecks

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An expert group that advocates for Tennessee academics has filed a lawsuit difficult a brand new state legislation that bans the group from deducting membership dues from educators’ paychecks.

The Tennessee Education Association filed the problem Monday over the two-pronged legislation, which additionally steadily raises the minimal instructor wage as much as $50,000 for the 2026-2027 faculty yr. The association helps the pay elevate, however opposes the deductions ban. Republican Gov. Bill Lee pushed for the dual-purpose invoice with the assist from the GOP-dominant General Assembly this yr.

The group’s lawsuit contends that combining the 2 adjustments into one invoice violates a single-subject requirement for any laws that’s required by the Tennessee Constitution. The problem requires a decide to go away the pay elevate in place and block the payroll deduction change.

Additionally, the lawsuit says the invoice’s caption – which is a brief abstract – is “constitutionally defective” as a result of it didn’t point out the payroll deductions change, which takes impact July 1.

The criticism additionally argues that the ban violates the state and federal constitutional protections for contracts. That consists of sure agreements between the Tennessee Education Association‘s native associates and faculty districts that embody provisions about deductions, and separate agreements between the association and academics.

Three native associates and two member academics joined the Tennessee Education Association as plaintiffs within the lawsuit in state chancery courtroom in Nashville.

“Sliding a payroll dues deduction ban in a bill to raise the minimum pay was a cynical attack on Tennessee teachers. The ban was mean-spirited, and the way it passed was unconstitutional,” Tennessee Education Association President Tanya Coats stated in a information launch.

Spokespeople for the legal professional normal and Gov. Lee‘s workplace declined to touch upon the lawsuit.

Efforts to move a paycheck deduction ban have failed in Tennessee as standalone payments in recent times. And although Lee and the Tennessee Education Association have at instances butted heads, together with over his faculty voucher program, the group is influential amongst Democratic and Republican lawmakers and has a well-funded political motion committee. This yr’s multipurpose proposal tied some lawmakers in knots.

Proponents of holding the deduction system intact stated it supplies native management – payroll dues deductions are non-obligatory on the faculty district stage, and academics don’t have to affix the Tennessee Education Association, or every other skilled group. They famous that sure state worker teams have paycheck deductions, and that the academics’ group was being singled out.

Lee and different supporters of banning the paycheck dues deductions have argued that it removes the gathering of dues for academics unions from the college districts’ payroll employees. The Tennessee Education Association has stated it’s not a union – it’s knowledgeable group that advocates on a variety of points for educators.

Tennessee has already eradicated key rights related to unions for public faculty academics. In 2011, the state handed a legislation that eradicated academics’ collective bargaining rights, changing them with an idea referred to as collaborative conferencing – which swapped union contracts with binding memorandums of understanding on points corresponding to salaries, grievances, advantages and dealing circumstances. Additionally, Tennessee academics misplaced the power to go on strike in 1978.

Lee has stated the invoice is “giving teachers control of their hard-earned pay and guarantee that taxpayer dollars are used to educate students, and not fund politics.”