Appellate Court Finds Employer Intent Matters in Dues-Related Unfair Labor Practice Charges

Under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, an employer’s failure to deduct and remit union dues based on a valid authorization by the employee or a collective bargaining agreement may be an unfair labor practice. According to the Act, “Relief for the violation shall be reimbursement by the educational employer of dues that should have been deducted or paid.” An unresolved question was whether the employer’s intent mattered in determining whether an unfair labor practice occurred and reimbursement is mandated; in other words, are educational employers required to reimburse a union for dues that they accidentally failed to withhold and remit?

An appellate court addressed this in Harlem Consolidated School District 122 v. Harlem Federation of Teachers Local 540, 2025 IL App (4th) 240860. The Harlem school district had historically deducted union dues from bargaining unit members’ paychecks for 15 of the 26 pay periods in the school year. Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, the union and school district agreed the school district would deduct dues from 20 of 26 pay periods. However, the school district failed to deduct and remit union dues for two pay periods.

The union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.  The IELRB held that the school district committed a per se unfair labor practice, regardless of intent, and ordered reimbursement to the union of nearly $48,000 in missed dues. The Appellate Court disagreed, holding that motive and intent are essential components of such claims and rejecting the IELRB’s reading of the statute as imposing strict liability. The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with this interpretation.

This ruling narrows the scope of automatic liability under the Act and reinforces the central role of intent in unfair labor practice claims. It may also limit unions’ ability to recover dues through IELRB action unless the union can demonstrate employer bad faith.