Taylor v. PSCOA

The Fairness Center represents Chris Taylor, a Pennsylvania corrections officer, in a new lawsuit against the union that represents his bargaining unit, part of his years-long fight to require PSCOA to follow the state laws that govern its conduct as a union. Mr. Taylor resigned his union membership in 2019, but had to file a federal lawsuit, Weyandt v. PSCOA, to force the union to accept his resignation. The complaint in this latest case alleges that not long after the Weyandt case was filed, PSCOA issued a Nonmember Fees Schedule that lists fees PSCOA charges to represent nonmembers in grievances and other contractual proceedings—even though PSCOA is required by law to represent nonmembers, since nonmember employees in a bargaining unit have no other choice in who represents them concerning their terms and conditions of employment. Mr. Taylor alleges that PSCOA has a policy of treating nonmembers differently than members of PSCOA, and that this violates the union’s duty of fair representation under Pennsylvania law.

Mr. Taylor has another suit pending against PSCOA, Yedlosky v. PSCOA, Local SCI-Huntingdon, that he filed with several colleagues to seek answers after they began suspecting improper expenditures by union officials. Since that suit was filed, the local union’s treasurer has pleaded guilty to theft of funds, and Mr. Taylor and his co-plaintiffs continue their quest for an explanation of what all went wrong with the handling of union members’ money.