DECISION 9959 (EDUC)

Issues: This case raises a question of first impression and requires me to address the following two interconnected issues:

1A. Which charity should be designated to receive Susan Wiggs’s alternative union security payments made in lieu of her regular dues and fees to the union?

1B. If Wiggs proves her designated organization is both nonreligious and a charity, does Washington law require the union to agree to her designation?

I find Washington law requires the union to agree to Wiggs’s designation of Shared Hope International (SHI) to receive her alternative union security payments, once Wiggs proves SHI is both nonreligious and a charity.

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By: Joel Greene, Examiner
January 22, 2008

Michael Gawley, for the union.
Thomas Klein, for the employee religious objector.

Case 20711-N-06-0053

JMG