The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit on October 7 challenging Michigan's classification of home caregivers as state employees for union representation purposes. The suit seeks to invalidate the election that certified SEIU Healthcare Michigan as the bargaining representative for home caregivers and enforce the Michigan Constitution's requirements governing state employment. Former Michigan Civil Service Commission member James "Jase" Bolger brought the case as a private citizen, arguing that state lawmakers bypassed constitutional safeguards to benefit union interests.
Two laws passed in 2024 reclassified home caregivers — often family members or friends caring for loved ones in their own homes — as employees of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services exclusively for collective bargaining. These caregivers receive payments to help adults who can't independently meet their basic needs stay in a home setting. The Michigan Employment Relations Commission certified the union election on October 9, 2025, though the vast majority of caregivers didn't vote to certify SEIU and have limited knowledge of the union's authority. The union can't negotiate caregivers' wages or working conditions but can deduct dues from payments for caregivers who join. According to OpenSecrets, SEIU ranked in the top 1% of campaign contributors nationwide in the most recent election cycle, spending over $35 million with 99.9% directed to Democratic candidates and affiliated groups.
"Caring for a loved one at home does not make someone a state employee," said Derk Wilcox, senior attorney at the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. The lawsuit contends that lawmakers can't designate caregivers as state employees while sidestepping the Michigan Civil Service Commission's constitutional control over state employment. Bolger stated the Legislature can't circumvent the Constitution to serve a major donor, regardless of the union's size and influence. The arrangement forces union representation on caregivers, the foundation argues, through a process that ignores constitutional employment rules.
The legal challenge builds on the foundation's earlier efforts to protect home caregivers from unwanted union representation and prevent the diversion of caregiver payments to union dues. The group previously fought an arrangement under which SEIU collected more than $34 million from Michigan home caregivers' Medicaid payments before that practice ended in 2013. The current lawsuit follows a related case filed July 30, 2025, on behalf of caregivers Tammy Martin and Dick Sullivan to block the union election, which ended after Sullivan's death and the death of Martin's son. Because the union election is now certified, the new suit targets invalidating the election rather than preventing it and names both the Michigan Employment Relations Commission and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services as defendants. The case presents unresolved constitutional questions about whether Michigan can create a category of state employee for union purposes alone while ignoring the civil service rules designed to prevent politicians from exploiting state employment for special interests.