James MacCarthy is a public schoolteacher in Eastampton Township, New Jersey. The opinion expressed here is solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NJ Education Report.

As a 20-year teacher, I have some advice for New Jersey educators double-checking their lesson plans and preparing to return to the classroom: take a close look at who’s running your union. Union officials are meant to defend their members. But what happens when they vilify them instead? 

I found out the hard way. 

In 2022, my teachers’ union, the Eastampton Township Education Association, filed a complaint against me on behalf of an anonymous coworker. I had no idea who had made the complaint or even what the accusation was. No one from the union, the very group I trusted to support me, ever asked for my side of the story. 

An investigation later found the accusations baseless and cleared my name. But by that point, the damage to my reputation and career had already been done. 

After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, volunteering as a municipal ambulance chief, and working in health care, I became a teacher in Eastampton Township. For the past two decades, I’ve taught science, STEM, and social studies to hundreds of students, these days relying on an assistive device to navigate crowded hallways.  

Throughout my career, I’ve paid union dues faithfully, trusting that the union would be there for me if I ever needed support. 

That trust shattered when the school district informed me that I was under investigation for sexual harassment. I was blindsided. Then it got worse: the “workplace discrimination” complaint hadn’t come from the district—it came from my own union. 

There was no evidence—no emails, texts, or security footage backing up the complaint—just vague, anonymous claims. But my union took the complainant’s side and pressured the district to act. The very organization meant to protect me was driving the campaign against me. The next six months were excruciating. I went to work each day under a cloud of confusion and constant fear. I knew I was being scrutinized, but I didn’t know by whom—or how to defend myself. 

My local union refused to represent me. So I turned to the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the state-level union, which eventually assigned me an attorney. But behind my back, local union officials contacted that same attorney—assigned to defend me—about the case they had initiated.  

Eventually, the school informed me of the identity of the person who had filed the complaints. In the end, when administrators reviewed the situation, they did not find that the complaints were substantiated. 

One of the complaints? That I said “good morning”—but supposedly in the wrong tone. That’s the kind of vague, subjective claim that the union treated as credible evidence. 

By then, the damage was done. People looked at me differently. My classroom was relocated—not just away from the complainant, but also farther from the accessible bathroom I rely on due to a disability. It sent a clear message: I was being treated as guilty. 

I felt punished for something I didn’t do. I was frustrated, isolated, and forced to explain it all to my family—without even understanding it myself. 

Where do I go to get my reputation back? 

Through it all, my union didn’t act like my representative. It acted like a prosecutor.  

I believe union officials targeted me because I had spoken up in the past, raising concerns they didn’t want to hear. 

What the union did to me wasn’t just unethical—I believe it’s illegal. Under New Jersey law, public-sector unions must represent all members fairly and remain neutral in workplace disputes, as my lawsuit explains. That should mean they cannot take sides or file complaints on behalf of one member against another. 

I’m not letting this go. I filed a complaint for unfair labor practice, and with the support of the Fairness Center, a nonprofit law firm, I’m pursuing my claim in a lawsuit in the Superior Court of New Jersey, challenging the union’s violation of its duty of fair representation. 

If it happened to me, it can happen to anyone. I’ve already cleared my name, but I want union officials to understand that they exist to represent, not retaliate—and that they are not above the law. 

No educator should be left defenseless when their integrity is under attack. Our unions must stand with us, not against us.