By Zach Gorchow
Gongwer News Service
The statutes allowing home help workers to unionize violate the Michigan Constitution because only the Civil Service Commission has authority over collective bargaining for state employees, a new lawsuit argues.
Filing the lawsuit was Jase Bolger, a former member of the Civil Service Commission who was the House speaker from 2011-14. Supporting Bolger in his lawsuit is the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation.
“Michigan’s Constitution puts safeguards around state employment for a reason: to keep politicians from using it to serve special interests,” Bolger said in a statement. “Having served on the Civil Service Commission, I understand the importance of those protections. I’m bringing this lawsuit not just because this skim is a scam but because the Legislature cannot sidestep the Constitution to benefit a major donor, no matter how big and powerful that union is.”
The litigation, filed in the Court of Claims, marks the latest volley in a near 20-year battle over whether home help workers should have the right to unionize.
In 2024, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law PA 144 of 2024 and PA 145 of 2024. The legislation designated home help caregivers as public employees with collective bargaining authority.
SEIU Healthcare Michigan long advocated for collective bargaining rights for these employees, who provide assistance to Medicaid beneficiaries with the daily activities of living. Home help workers are funded by the State of Michigan but employed by the client seeking their services.
Union critics, like the Mackinac Center, have long called the effort to allow these workers to unionize nothing more than a way for SEIU Healthcare Michigan to claim dues.
The lawsuit contends the Michigan Constitution gives the Civil Service Commission plenary control over most state employees and that the 2024 laws deny the commission that control.
“The primary reason for the creation of a constitutional civil service commission was to prevent the Legislature from creating certain employees and positions that were used to fund or support partisan activities,” the lawsuit says.
“The attempted creation of this new class of unconstitutional employees exempt from the Civil Service Commission’s authority is intended to work around that prohibition by funding a union that is almost uniformly affiliated with one political party.”
The lawsuit asks the court to void the Michigan Employment Relations Commission’s certification of the election by the workers to unionize.
A related lawsuit filed in 2025 has since been dismissed, following the death of one of the plaintiffs and the death of the other plaintiff’s son, ending the surviving plaintiff’s status as a caregiver.
Gongwer News Service
The statutes allowing home help workers to unionize violate the Michigan Constitution because only the Civil Service Commission has authority over collective bargaining for state employees, a new lawsuit argues.
Filing the lawsuit was Jase Bolger, a former member of the Civil Service Commission who was the House speaker from 2011-14. Supporting Bolger in his lawsuit is the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation.
“Michigan’s Constitution puts safeguards around state employment for a reason: to keep politicians from using it to serve special interests,” Bolger said in a statement. “Having served on the Civil Service Commission, I understand the importance of those protections. I’m bringing this lawsuit not just because this skim is a scam but because the Legislature cannot sidestep the Constitution to benefit a major donor, no matter how big and powerful that union is.”
The litigation, filed in the Court of Claims, marks the latest volley in a near 20-year battle over whether home help workers should have the right to unionize.
In 2024, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law PA 144 of 2024 and PA 145 of 2024. The legislation designated home help caregivers as public employees with collective bargaining authority.
SEIU Healthcare Michigan long advocated for collective bargaining rights for these employees, who provide assistance to Medicaid beneficiaries with the daily activities of living. Home help workers are funded by the State of Michigan but employed by the client seeking their services.
Union critics, like the Mackinac Center, have long called the effort to allow these workers to unionize nothing more than a way for SEIU Healthcare Michigan to claim dues.
The lawsuit contends the Michigan Constitution gives the Civil Service Commission plenary control over most state employees and that the 2024 laws deny the commission that control.
“The primary reason for the creation of a constitutional civil service commission was to prevent the Legislature from creating certain employees and positions that were used to fund or support partisan activities,” the lawsuit says.
“The attempted creation of this new class of unconstitutional employees exempt from the Civil Service Commission’s authority is intended to work around that prohibition by funding a union that is almost uniformly affiliated with one political party.”
The lawsuit asks the court to void the Michigan Employment Relations Commission’s certification of the election by the workers to unionize.
A related lawsuit filed in 2025 has since been dismissed, following the death of one of the plaintiffs and the death of the other plaintiff’s son, ending the surviving plaintiff’s status as a caregiver.
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