In Valley Hospital Medical Center, 371 NLRB No. 160 (Sept. 30, 2022) (Valley Hospital II), a divided National Labor Relations Board held that employers must continue to deduct union dues from employees' pay and remit such dues to their union – a process known as "dues checkoff" – even after the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement containing a checkoff provision. The decision demonstrates the current Board's rather unfriendly approach to employers. It also illustrates how employers have been whipsawed in recent years by swings in Board precedent depending on the Board's political makeup.
In Valley Hospital, the employer and union were parties to a collective bargaining agreement that had a dues-checkoff clause. Over a year after the agreement had expired, the employer ceased deducting union dues from its employees' pay. The practical effect was that the union would have to collect dues directly from the employees. The union objected and claimed that the employer's action violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
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