Oregon state government worker Debora Nearman has won the right to not be forced to pay for political campaigns attacking her husband, state Rep. Michael Nearman, R-Polk, a victory allies have attributed to the recent Supreme Court decision on public sector unions.

Service Employees International Union Local 503 has agreed to pay Debora Nearman back $3,000 in funds it extracted from her paycheck at the same time the union was underwriting campaigns against the representative. The union had accused him accused him of being an unethical "lawbreaker" who opposed paying disabled people fair wages. The charge upset Debora Nearman, who is herself disabled.

"The fliers the union was sending out were just heartbreaking to me. They were just very misleading, taking things he said out of context," she told the Washington Examiner.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense foundation, which represented Nearman in the case, says the settlement "represents the first return of forced fees as a result of the foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Janus v. AFSCME decision, which held that the First Amendment prohibits mandatory union fees." The court's ruling, delivered last month, held that it was unconstitutional to force public sector employees to support unions.

Debora Nearman has been a state Fish and Wildlife Department employee since 2011. The department's workers are represented by SEIU Local 503 and as part of the state's collective bargaining agreement with the union, all workers were prior to Janus obligated to either join the union or, if they decline, pay it a regular fee. In either case, the funds were automatically deducted from their paychecks. Those funds helped underwrite the union's various political efforts, which included mounting campaigns against Michael Nearman's bids for office in 2014, 2016 and endorsing his rival in the 2018 election as well.

Thus, her paychecks were regularly being garnished in order to keep her husband out of office. She sued Local 503 in April to stop this. Following the Janus ruling, the union agreed to settle. The deal included a requirement that it will "neither seek to collect nor accept any future dues or fees deducted from the plaintiff's wages unless she affirmatively chooses to become a member of SEIU Local 503 and authorize the deductions."

That latter part is unlikely to happen as Local 503's campaign against Nearman was pretty harsh. According to an amicus brief Nearman's lawyers submitted in the Janus case, the union's campaign against Michael Nearman left his wife "very distressed and humiliated ... especially by the charge that he did not support paying disabled persons a fair wage because Amicus is herself disabled." It was so bad that lawmaker was obligated to collect the mail first and hide it from her before she came home.

“This is a great example for the countless public-sector workers across the country who seek to have their First Amendment rights respected in light of the Foundation’s Janus Supreme Court victory,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Nearman’s refund represents the first of what should ultimately be hundreds of millions of dollars or even more returned to public employees for union fees seized from them in violation of the First Amendment.”

A spokesman for Local 503 could not be reached for comment.

