On September 2, 2014, a Michigan Employment Relations Commission (“MERC”) Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) issued recommended orders ruling that the Michigan Education Association’s August window for resignations is illegal because it restricts an employee’s right to resign his or her membership at will, a right guaranteed by Michigan’s public-sector Right to Work law.

This recommended order is not the final step towards ensuring that Michigan employees have the right to resign at will, because the MEA has announced that it will appeal the ALJ’s decision to the full Commission. We will keep you informed as the case progresses.

The ALJ also recommended that MERC hold an employee can waive this right to resign at will so long as the wavier is “clear, explicit, and unmistakable.” Therefore, if you wish to retain your right to at any time resign from membership in the MEA and its affiliates and stop paying dues or fees to them, do not sign any documents agreeing to waive that right or to financially support the union after resigning.

In addition, the August window for resignation from membership in the Michigan Education Association and its affiliates has now closed.

Foundation Staff Attorneys are available to provide legal advice and assistance to school employees whose resignations have been rejected by those unions, whether submitted during the August window or outside of it. If that has happened to you, and you want legal advice or assistance, please call the Foundation at 1-800-336-3600 or click here. You should act promptly if your resignation has been rejected, because there is a six-month limit on when charges can be filed concerning conduct that may violate the Right to Work law.