While the country was inundated with news about the impeachment and the growing international pandemic, the Freedom Foundation has remained focused on public employees and safeguarding their rights to stop paying union dues. And when unions drag their feet, the Freedom Foundation provides free legal representation.

Thanks to the Freedom Foundation’s outreach efforts, 112 public employees chose freedom on January 5, 2020 by opting out of their unions. So far, this is the highest one-day opt-out total for 2020.

Also in January, the Freedom Foundation’s litigation team filed a lawsuit on behalf of California lifeguards who were prevented from having their dues deductions stopped.

In March, Freedom Foundation attorneys filed a lawsuit against California government unions for forging signatures on membership cards in order to take dues from public employee paychecks. To date, the Freedom Foundation has filed 12 forgery cases against public sector unions in Washington, Oregon, and California.

Also in March, the Freedom Foundation sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, calling for a three-month moratorium on government union dues deductions from public employee paychecks. Stopping union dues deductions for only three months would return a whopping $250 million back to the employees who earned it, allowing Californians to have more money to spend on bills during this challenging time.The Foundation is still waiting for a response from the governor’s office.

Freedom Foundation outreach teams ceased in-person contact methods when cases of the coronavirus began increasing in America. The outreach teams are shifting to personal calls for the time being, to respect the social distance guidelines.

As of March 5, 2020, the Freedom Foundation has assisted more than 70,000 government employees in leaving their unions.