Page 26 - Anti Trust for Board Leadership_Neat

The entire rationale supporting the dues
formula is undermined, however, when the
dues formula is mis-characterized as
®
requiring a REALTOR to “pay the dues” of
his non-member salespeople, or
alternatively, as requiring all salespeople of
®
a REALTOR to also join the association. If
®
a REALTOR in fact “paid the dues” of his
®
salespeople by paying his REALTOR dues,
those salespeople might in some states be
deemed “employees” for tax or insurance
purposes. Such a characterization might
also allow the dues formula to be
construed as a form of “compulsion” to
require all salespeople to join the
association.
To suggest that the association, through the
dues formula, requires all salespeople of a
REALTOR to join the association is equally
®
untrue and even more dangerous. A local
association may not interfere with the
relationship between a REALTOR and his
®
salespeople, including whether or not a
REALTOR ’s salespeople are themselves
®
association members. To characterize the
dues formula as imposing this requirement
is to admit to an antitrust violation.

Properly characterized, however, the dues
formula has withstood attacks as an
unreasonable restraint of trade, a per se
illegal tying arrangement, and a violation
of the “independent contractor” criteria.

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