Sweet v. CAPT

Background

Alfred Sweet is a psychiatric technician at Atascadero State Hospital in Paso Robles. Sweet joined the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians when he started working at the hospital in 2011 and began making requests to resign and become an agency fee payer in 2014.

Those requests were denied. After the Janus decision, Sweet submitted his resignation once again. However, the union will not recognize Sweet’s resignation until a thirty-day opt-out period beginning June 1, 2019, and California Department of State Hospitals continues to deduct dues from his paycheck.

On February 27, 2019, attorneys for Liberty Justice Center and California Policy Center filed a lawsuit, Sweet v. CAPT, et al., on Sweet’s behalf to enforce his First Amendment rights.