On January 9, 2017, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin signed into law the Paycheck Protection Act (S.B. 6). Pursuant to the law, an employee may not be enrolled in a labor organization absent the employee’s written request for membership. In addition, neither union dues or other fees may be withheld from an employee’s wages without written or electronic authorization. These requirements may not be waived or required as a condition of obtaining or maintaining employment. The law also imposes recordkeeping requirements on labor organizations.

The law went into effect upon signing.

Read KY S.B. 6

Right to Work Act

On January 9, 2017, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin signed into law the Kentucky Right to Work Act (H.B. 1). Pursuant to the law, no employee in the state may be required to join or remain in a labor organization or forced to pay labor organization dues or other fees as a condition of employment. In addition, public employees may no longer engage in strikes or work stoppages, although they are permitted to organize and bargain collectively over terms and conditions of employment.

In addition, the law also:

• Prohibits a public employer or labor organization from deducting from employee wages the dues for membership in any employee organization, association, or union without the public employee’s express written consent prior to any deduction. The employee may revoke the consent at any time upon written notice to the employer.
• Prohibits any legislative body of any city, county, consolidated local government, urban county government, charter county government, or unified local government to adopt or enforce any ordinance, policy, or resolution that conflicts with its labor-related provisions.

The law went into effect upon signing.

This post originally appeared: Think HR Blog Post on January 16, 2017.