§PlainStatute

Work · Right to work

Right-to-Work States: Is Your State One?

Whether each state is a right-to-work state, meaning a job cannot require you to pay a union as a condition of employment, the law that decides it, and the federal-worker exceptions. Each cited to the statute.

6 of 50 states published. Right-to-work is set state by state under federal law, so it is a clean split: a state either bans required union fees or it does not.Here 2 of these are right-to-work states. Where a state is not, that is usually because it has passed no such law. Every page links to the statute or the code it was read against.

Read this first: what right-to-work actually means

A right-to-work law means you cannot be required to join a union or pay union fees just to keep a job. It does not ban unions, and it is not about being able to be fired at will, which is a separate rule. Federal labor law lets each state decide, so a state is right-to-work only if it has passed a law or constitutional provision that says so. Where a state has not, union-security agreements are legal and the state is not right-to-work.

Two things to keep straight. First, even in a state that is not right-to-work, you can be required to pay only the share that covers bargaining costs, not full political dues. Second, some jobs follow federal, not state, rules: railway and airline workers under the Railway Labor Act, and workers on federal enclaves, are not governed by the state answer. Every figure links to the statute, and pages still pending verification say so.

Pick your state

The verdict, the governing law, and the statute on each card.

C

CA
California
Not right-to-work
In this state
AuthorityNo state right-to-work law
StatuteCal. Labor Code

F

FL
Florida
Right-to-work
In this state
AuthorityFla. Const. Art. I §6
Statute§6

I

IL
Illinois
Not right-to-work
In this state
AuthorityIll. Const. Art. I §25
Statute§25

N

NY
New York
Not right-to-work
In this state
AuthorityNo state right-to-work law
StatuteN.Y. Labor Law

P

PA
Pennsylvania
Not right-to-work
In this state
AuthorityNo state right-to-work law
StatutePa. Stat. tit. 43

T

TX
Texas
Right-to-work
In this state
AuthorityTex. Labor Code §§101.052-101.053
Statute§§101.052-101.053

What these pages are, and what they aren't

Each state page is a reference for the right-to-work rule and the neutral steps around it. They are deliberately not advice for your job: public sector, railway, and airline work can follow different rules, so each page links to the statute or the code it was read against. This is legal information, not legal advice.