Clevinger v. Board of Educ. of Pike County

• Decision Date: 26 April 1990
• Docket Number: Nos. 89-SC-412-D,No. 783 and I,89-SC-436-DG,783 and I,s. 89-SC-412-D
• Citation: 789 S.W.2d 5
• Parties: 60 Ed. Law Rep. 1012 Queenie Angeline CLEVINGER, As a Representative of a Class Consisting of the Members and Prospective Members of Teamsters Local Union 783, Who Are Also Employees and Former Employees of the Board of Education of Pike County, Ky.; Jerry T. Vincent, as a Representative of a Class Consisting of Teamsters Localts Members, Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PIKE COUNTY, KY., Appellee. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PIKE COUNTY, KY., Appellant, v. Queenie Angeline CLEVINGER, As a Representative of a Class Consisting of the Members and Prospective Members of Teamsters Local Union 783, Who Are Also Employees and Former Employees of the Board of Education of Pike County, Ky.; Jerry T. Vincent, As a Representative of a Class Consisting of Teamsters Localts Members, Appellees.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

Page 5

789 S.W.2d 5

60 Ed. Law Rep. 1012

Queenie Angeline CLEVINGER, As a Representative of a Class

Consisting of the Members and Prospective Members of

Teamsters Local Union 783, Who Are Also Employees and Former

Employees of the Board of Education of Pike County, Ky.;

Jerry T. Vincent, as a Representative of a Class Consisting

of Teamsters Local No. 783 and Its Members, Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PIKE COUNTY, KY., Appellee.

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PIKE COUNTY, KY., Appellant, v. Queenie Angeline CLEVINGER, As a Representative of a Class

Consisting of the Members and Prospective Members of

Teamsters Local Union 783, Who Are Also Employees and Former

Employees of the Board of Education of Pike County, Ky.;

Jerry T. Vincent, As a Representative of a Class Consisting

of Teamsters Local No. 783 and Its Members, Appellees.

Nos. 89-SC-412-DG, 89-SC-436-DG.

Supreme Court of Kentucky.

April 26, 1990.

Dennis Franklin Janes, John Frith Stewart, Louisville, for Clevinger, et al.

F.C. Bryan, John C. Fogle III, Mt. Sterling, for Bd. of Educ.

OPINION OF THE COURT

This is a class action on behalf of members of Teamsters Local No. 783 employed by the Board of Education of Pike County, Ky., who requested the Board to make payroll deductions of their union dues pursuant to statutory authorization in KRS 161.158(2). The School Board refused to honor their requests.

Initially Jerry T. Vincent and Teamsters Local Union No. 783 filed suit as representatives of a class consisting of the union and the employees. This suit was dismissed in an Order which also permitted the filing of an Amended Complaint in which one of the School Board employees, Queenie Angeline Clevinger, was certified as representative of a class consisting of members and prospective members of the union who are employees or former employees of the School Board.

The principal issues involve: (1) whether under KRS 161.158(2), properly construed, the School Board is required to honor the request of School Board employees for payroll deductions; and (2) if so, whether the School Board's failure to do so gives rise to a cause of action for money damages on behalf of either the union or the union employees, or both, under the Federal Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, or under § 2 of our Kentucky Constitution and KRS 446.070 which provides a cause of action for injury by statutory violation.

The trial court's final judgment upheld the right of the union employees to compel payroll deduction of union membership dues, ordering the School Board to make such deductions and remit to the union, but denied and dismissed the various claims for money damages. On appeal and cross-appeal to the Court of Appeals, the Court of Appeals affirmed so much of the final judgment as provided prospective injunctive relief by ordering the payroll deductions, but reversed the trial court's Summary Judgment on the claims for money damages, holding that the Amended Complaint stated a valid claim for relief under the Federal Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Both the Board of Education and the union have filed motions for discretionary review in our Court, which we have granted. We affirm so much of the Court of Appeals' Opinion and decision as affirmed the trial court, and reverse so much of the Court of Appeals' decision as reversed the trial court. Accordingly, we adopt and incorporate herein the Opinion of the Court of Appeals authored by Judge McDonald, Judge West and Special Judge White concurring, from its beginning to the point where it discusses the claim for money damages. The Opinion is as follows:

"The facts giving rise to this action are fairly undisputed and not complex. Nearly 300 noncertified employees ¹ of the appellee/cross-appellant, Board of Education of Pike County, Kentucky, became members of the Teamsters Union. Pursuant to Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 161.158(2), each employee sent written authorization to the board requesting that the board deduct from his or her wages the monthly dues of $11 and transmit said dues to the local union organization. Although the board had for some years honored such requests from its professional employees and transmitted dues to such employee associations as the Kentucky Education Association, Kentucky Education Support Personnel Association, and American Association of School Administrators, the board declined to so accommodate its employees affiliated with the Teamsters.

"This action was commenced in the Pike Circuit Court by the appellant, Jerry T. Vincent, the secretary-treasurer of Local No. 783 of the Teamsters Union, against the Pike County Board of Education. The complaint was filed by Vincent as a 'representative of a class consisting of Teamsters Local Union No. 783 and its members." The complaint alleged that the board, in violation of KRS 161.158(2), refused to deduct membership dues for approximately 300 board employees affiliated with Local 783. The complaint sought a declaration of the rights of the members of the class to have their dues checked off. It also stated a cause of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and requested attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. The appellant alleged that the board's actions violated the rights of the class members provided both by the First (freedom of association) and Fourteenth (equal protection) Amendments of the United States Constitution and Sections 1, 2 and 8 of the Kentucky Constitution.

"The Board moved the trial court to dismiss the complaint on the basis that (1) Jerry Vincent, not being an employee of the board, had no standing to maintain the suit, (2) the board was entitled to the protections afforded by the doctrine of sovereign immunity, and (3) the complaint failed to state a cause of action. The trial court overruled the motion to dismiss but ruled that neither Jerry Vincent nor Local No. 783 were proper parties to the action. An amended complaint was filed to comport to the court's order, naming the appellant, Queenie Angeline Clevinger, as a representative of the class limited to Local No. 783 members who were also employed by the board. After the board answered the complaint, both sides moved for summary judgment.

"In its final order the trial court entered a judgment in favor of the class to the extent that it ordered the board to immediately begin payroll deductions of membership dues and to transmit those dues to the Teamsters Local Union No. 783. The court concluded that KRS 161.158(2) required that 'all employees and employee groups ... be given fair and equal treatment by the Defendant Board.' However, the trial court dismissed, without elucidation, the claims of the plaintiffs of constitutional deprivation. The appellants, Jerry Vincent and Queenie Clevinger, have appealed from both the interlocutory order regarding standing and class membership, and the final order dismissing their constitutional claims and requests for attorney's fees. The Pike County Board of Education has cross-appealed from that portion of the final order requiring it to afford its Teamster-affiliated employees with a dues check-off.

Numerous legal issues are involved in this appeal and cross-appeal. We will begin with those issues raised by the board in its cross-appeal. The board's argument that the trial court erred in requiring it to deduct union dues from its employees' wages is twofold: First it contends that it is actually prohibited from making such deductions by KRS 337.060, and secondly, that the term 'membership dues' used in KRS 161.158(2) does not include union dues. An examination of these two statutory provisions readily belies the board's assertions.

"KRS 161.158(2), ² the statute the trial court determined the board was violating and with which it ordered the board to comply, provides in pertinent part as follows:

'Each district board of education shall adopt policies or regulations which will provide for deductions from salaries of its employes or groups of employes whenever a request is presented to the board by said employes or groups thereof. Such deductions shall be made from salaries earned in at least eight (8) different pay periods, and shall be remitted to the appropriate organization or association as specified by the employes. The deductions may be made for, but are not limited to, membership dues, tax sheltered annuities and group insurance premiums....' [Emphasis added.]

"Quite specifically, this statute requires that a school board extend the privilege of participation in payroll deductions to all of its employees for a variety of legal purposes. See e.g., Kentucky Educators Public Affairs Council v. Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, 677 F.2d 1125, 1127 (6th Cir.1982). The board's reliance on KRS 337.060 as prohibiting the deductions required by the above cited statute is entirely misplaced. KRS 337.060(1) ³ provides in part:

'No employer shall withhold from any employe any part of the wage agreed upon. This section shall not make it unlawful for an employer to withhold or divert any portion of an employe's wage when the employer is authorized to do so by local, state or federal law or when a deduction is expressly authorized in writing by the employe to cover insurance premiums, hospital and medical dues, or other deductions not amounting to a rebate or deduction from the standard wage arrived at by collective bargaining or pursuant to wage agreement or statute, nor shall it preclude deductions for union dues where such deductions are authorized by joint wage agreements or collective bargaining contracts negotiated between employers and employes or their representative.' [Emphasis added.]

"The emphasized language in KRS 337.060(1) clearly provides an exception to the general prohibition against withholding wages, that being when the employer is 'authorized' to do so by law. KRS 161.158(2) specifically authorizes a school board to withhold wages whenever an employee or group of employees so requests. Even if there...