In 1994, Sherry Loar started a home day care service in Petoskey.

In December of 2008, Loar said she received a letter stating she was in a union and dues were being taken out of her checks.

Problem is that Loar never recalls voting on it.

“We should have an option,” Loar said. “I was told … there was nothing you can do about it.”

Patrick Wright, the senior legal analyst for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, announces the formation of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation at a press conference in Lansing on Wednesday. The new legal foundation would allow the Mackinac Center to file suits directly in cases.

The Mackinac Center of Public Policy in Midland disagrees.

The public policy think tank’s new legal foundation filed suit Wednesday against the Michigan Department of Human Services. They represent Loar and another home care provider, Dawn Ives, also of Petoskey.

At a press conference on the grounds of the Hall of Justice in Lansing, the Mackinac Center of Public Policy announced the creation of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation.

Patrick Wright, the legal counsel for the Mackinac Center, will be director of the newly created legal foundation.
Mackinac Center spokesman Michael Jahr said for the time being the legal foundation’s only attorney will be Wright.
Wright said in the past, the Mackinac Center has offered opinions to the courts on cases. By creating the legal foundation, the Mackinac Center can file direct actions, Wright said.

The legal foundation will focus on such areas as Freedom of Information Act, property rights, education and transparency, Wright said.

Its first case claims 40,000 home-based day care providers in Michigan are having about $3.7 million a year taken out of their paychecks by the Michigan Department of Human Services and given to the union. The department of human services starting collecting the dues in January 2009.

Colleen Steinman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, said they do not comment on pending litigation.

According to the legal foundation, the Michigan Employment Relations Commission held a vote in October and November of 2006. Just 6,396 of the 40,000 home day care providers impacted voted. The union is the Child Care Providers Together Michigan.

The union dues were taken out of paychecks to the home care providers by child care subsidy payments made to need families with children in home day care.

Loar said it amounted to just $1.50 a month. She said she was more upset by the process than the money that was given to the union.

“It’s wrong for the union to enter my home,” said Loar, who was present at the press conference. “It should stop at the door.”