U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright has dismissed a federal lawsuit filed in May over the inability of Pulaski County Special School District support staff to immediately end their union membership and payment of union dues.
Wright ordered the dismissal of the case after the plaintiffs — five school-bus drivers — asked that the case be dismissed in documents submitted to the court over the weekend.
The employees, Cynfranesia Jackson, Sandra Allen, Rosalyn Austin, Joseph Howard and Chenikia Smith, filed the lawsuit in May against Tom Kimbrell, the now former state commissioner of education; the Pulaski Association of Support Staff; and Jerry Guess, the superintendent of the Pulaski County Special district.
The employees argued in the lawsuit that they were prevented from immediately terminating their memberships in the Pulaski Association of Support Staff.
The employees were limited in ending their memberships to a one-time, 15-day period in July of each year. And the school district is required by law to collect the dues from employees who are union members. The district then sends those payments to the union.
In a notice to the judge, the attorneys for the employees stated that “all claims and causes of action asserted in the complaint are voluntarily dismissed without prejudice against all Defendants.” They did not specify a reason.
The attorney for the plaintiffs was Aaron Solem from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in Springfield, Va.
The documents filed in court gave no explanation for the request for dismissal.
But Anthony Riedel, a spokesman for the foundation, said Tuesday that the plaintiffs asked for the case to be dismissed after the Pulaski Association for Support Staff reimbursed the five employees for their dues with interest and $1 in nominal damages.
“Essentially the case is moot, so we filed for voluntary dismissal,” Riedel said.