A Mixed Bag in 2020 Lame Duck Session
Today marks a major victory for Michigan school employees, as the Michigan Supreme Court unanimously ruled to return more than a half billion dollars illegally taken from school employees in the long-running 3 percent case.
In a dramatic December conclusion to a nearly 8-year-long legal battle, the Court ruled 6-0 to uphold lower court rulings that found the withholding to be illegal on a variety of constitutional grounds.
“I cannot imagine a better pre-holiday gift to Michigan’s school employees than getting their hard-earned money returned to them,” said MEA President Paula Herbart. “This is the culmination of years of work by both AFT Michigan and MEA on behalf of our members. This reinforces why being a member of a union matters – working collectively, we won this case that no individual could have fought for themselves.”
Logistics will need to be determined for how school employees will receive the refund of over $550 million that’s been held in escrow since 2010-2012, but today’s ruling ends a long string of unsuccessful appeals by Governor Rick Snyder and – until this final appeal – Attorney General Bill Schuette.
Anyone who worked in Michigan schools in the affected time period from 2010-12, and had the 3 percent taken from their paychecks, will get money returned. We do not have information about how or when that will happen at this time. For more information, visit MEA’s 3 percent FAQ page.
Make sure MEA has your home email address so we can keep you up to date on developments about when and how money will be returned—Email webmaster@mea.org with your information.
“We hope the governor and attorney general work with us – as opposed to their years of fighting us – to ensure employees get their money returned to them in a timely fashion,” said AFT Michigan President David Hecker. “Michigan’s school employees have waited eight long years to get their hard-earned money returned to them – no futher delay is necessary.”
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This is in regards to the ruling on returning the 3% back to school employees. Making sure you have my correct email.
Thank you
Please contact the MEA Help Center at 1-866-MEA-HELP or through the live chat at the bottom of our website to update your contact info. Thanks!
When will the refund be issued
I want to know if I have to work reg. hours during Christmas-New Year break,
excluding the holidays themselves if I am suppose to receive time and a half.
Member MEA dues paid. I work 25-hrs a week and according to the contract
I should have 6 vacation days, I have 3 1/2 yrs. Is this accurate? Information is
appreciated.
You will likely get the best answer regarding contract specifics from your local association officers or your UniServ office.
ljm196340@yahoo.com
Do I get a refund
I am just curious, how long can a district hold this money? What’s to stop them from hanging on to it to gain interest? It’s my understanding that the state will send us an email soon letting us know how much we will get back, with interest, so how hard will that be for a district? Also, what about FICA?