§89-3.5  Religious exemption from support of
employee organization.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
contrary, any employee who is a member of and adheres to established and
traditional tenets or teachings of a bona fide religion, body, or sect which
has historically held conscientious objections to joining or financially
supporting employee organizations shall not be required to join or financially
support any employee organization as a condition of employment; except that an
employee may be required in a contract between an employee's employer and
employee organization in lieu of periodic dues and initiation fees, to pay sums
equal to the dues and initiation fees to a nonreligious, nonlabor organization
charitable fund exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal
Revenue Code, chosen by the employee from a list of at least three funds,
designated in the contract or if the contract fails to designate any funds,
then to any fund chosen by the employee.  If an employee who holds
conscientious objections pursuant to this section requests the employee
organization to use the grievance-arbitration procedure on the employee's
behalf, the employee organization is authorized to charge the employee for the
reasonable cost of using the procedure. [L 1982, c 102, §1; am L 1983, c 124,
§3]