Wisconsin Appeals Court Upholds Act 10, Keeping Public-Worker Bargaining Limits in Place

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on July 29 overturned a lower-court ruling against Act 10, rejecting a constitutional challenge to the law’s different treatment of most public employees and certain public-safety workers. The 2-1 decision leaves Wisconsin’s existing limits on public-sector collective bargaining in place.

There is no immediate change to bargaining rights or procedures. Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost’s December 2024 ruling had been stayed while the case was appealed, so public workers, school districts, municipalities and state agencies continue operating under the same legal framework.

What the appeals court ruled

The case centered on whether Act 10 violates the Wisconsin Constitution’s equal-protection guarantee by imposing stricter bargaining limits on most public employees while exempting certain public-safety workers.

The appellate majority concluded that the distinction had a rational basis and did not violate the state Constitution. The court said the Legislature could make different policy choices for certain public-safety employees and that the lower court had no legal basis to declare the challenged provisions unconstitutional.

The ruling came from a three-judge panel. Judge Lisa Neubauer dissented, arguing that the Legislature made arbitrary and irrational distinctions by taking collective-bargaining rights from some public employees while preserving broader protections for others.

What Act 10 does

Act 10, enacted in 2011, generally limits collective bargaining for most public employees. Bargaining over base wages is limited to increases no greater than inflation. The law also includes provisions involving union dues, annual union recertification and employee contributions toward health insurance and retirement benefits.

Certain public-safety workers, including firefighters and some law-enforcement employees, receive different treatment under the law. The lawsuit argued that those exemptions were unconstitutional because similarly situated public employees were not treated alike.

The challenge was brought by seven unions and three union leaders. Attorneys for the Legislature and state agencies defended the exemptions and argued that the constitutional claims had already been rejected in earlier litigation.

Why residents will not see an immediate operational change

The December 2024 circuit-court decision did not take effect while the appeal was pending. Because that ruling was stayed, public employers and unions continued operating under Act 10 during the litigation.

The appeals court’s decision therefore does not newly restrict bargaining rights or change current wage, benefit or dues procedures. Instead, it leaves the existing framework in place unless a higher court later rules otherwise or the Legislature changes the law.

For school districts, municipalities and state agencies, the immediate consequence is continued reliance on the same bargaining rules used during the appeal. For most public employees, the decision means there is no immediate expansion of bargaining rights from this case.

What happens next

The unions are considering whether to ask the Wisconsin Supreme Court to review the case. No further appeal should be treated as filed unless the court record confirms one.

A Wisconsin Supreme Court petition would keep the constitutional dispute alive and could eventually give the state’s highest court another opportunity to examine the public-safety exemptions. The appellate ruling itself does not mean the Supreme Court has accepted the case.

The next verifiable development will be a possible filing in the Wisconsin Supreme Court or another official action in the case record. Until then, Act 10 remains operative, and Wisconsin’s public employers and most public workers continue under its existing bargaining limits. The Associated Press report and the Wisconsin newsroom report provide additional details, while the Wisconsin Court System’s appellate-opinion records remain the place to verify later filings and court action.

Sources

• Wisconsin’s appeals court overturns ruling striking down anti-union law
• Wisconsin appeals court overturns ruling that had restored collective bargaining power
• Wisconsin Court System: Court of Appeals opinions