**Columbus, OH (January 22, 2007)** \u2014 A St. Marys-area teacher today filed a federal complaint challenging the constitutionality of a statewide law denying public employees the right to a religious objection to paying union dues if they do not belong to certain state-approved religions. <\/p>\n
With free legal help from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Carol Katter, a 21-year veteran teacher in the St. Marys school district, filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio\u2019s Eastern Division. Katter filed the complaint against top officials of the Ohio State Employment Relations Board (SERB) for religious discrimination in enforcing the contested statute.<\/p>\n
SERB officials cannot claim ignorance, as the agency had recently been an incidental party to an earlier investigation and lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice and National Right to Work Foundation attorneys involving similar actions.<\/p>\n
Katter filed a related charge this week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the Ohio Education Association (OEA) union, state affiliate of the National Education Association, challenging an attempt by union officials to divert her forced dues to the local union rather than a charity.<\/p>\n
The federal court complaint spells out that, even though Katter is a lifelong Catholic, she was denied her right to an adequate religious accommodation. Katter believes that failing to divert her forced dues from the union contradicts her beliefs due to the union hierarchy\u2019s support for abortion on demand.<\/p>\n
Further still, an OEA union official told Katter that she must \u201cchange religions\u201d in order to receive a religious accommodation before SERB. Katter\u2019s complaint cites that the state\u2019s discriminatory statute amounts to an unconstitutional establishment of religion, and seeks a federal injunction prohibiting SERB from further enforcing the law against other state employees.<\/p>\n