A county employee sued his employer and union representatives alleging that the County deducted dues from his wages without his authorization in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. After the suit was filed, the unions refunded the deductions and informed the county that the employee had cancelled his union dues authorizations.
The district court found for the county, and the employee appealed. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the district court properly dismissed the county because the employee could not establish any county liability under 42 USC section 1983 for violating the employee’s rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The county’s action to deduct the dues was not a deliberate choice to violate the employee’s rights; on the contrary, the county was not aware that the employee had not authorized the deductions, and the law does not require the county to ensure the accuracy of a union’s certification to collect union dues.