Catherwood LibraryILR School

The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago has ruled unanimously that suburban Lincolnshire in northwestern Illinois does not have the right to establish a local right-to-work law. “Right-to-work” laws allow workers to opt out of paying union fees even if those workers benefit from collective bargaining. The court stated that while the National Labor Relations Act allows individual states to pass right-to-work laws, it does not allow for passing that responsibility to local governments, due to the likelihood of conflicting labor laws on the local level. The decision conflicts with a ruling made by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2016 in Kentucky, which ruled in favor of local regions being able to establish right-to-work laws. This sets up the possibility that the case may be taken to the Supreme Court for review, which the Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center intends to do. The Liberty Justice Center represented Lincolnshire and also represented Mark Janus, whose case against “fair share” union payments reached the Supreme Court and dealt a blow to unions nationally earlier this year.