Category: Legislation

AB 729 was introduced by Assemblymember Hernandez on March 4, 2013.  This bill would establish a new evidentiary privilege for communications between a union agent and a represented worker.  Current law provides that communications between an attorney-client and physician-patient, among others, are privileged.  This bill would add communications between a union agent and represented worker to that list. Comments: No legislative analysis has been issued on this bill yet so we don’t know what prompted it.  But I have a hunch.  Last year there was an unpublished appellate decision involving a State Personnel Board case.  The employee asserted a communication…

On September 14, 2012, Governor Brown signed AB 1606.  AB 1606 amends the fact-finding provision under the MMBA (Gov. Code section 3505.4).  For some background see my prior posts here and here.  As enacted, AB 1606 does two things: The bill provides that mediation is not a prerequisite to fact-finding under the MMBA.  The language used in the bill largely mirrors PERB Regulation 32802. The bill also adds Gov. Code section 3505.4, subdivision (e), which states that, "The procedural right of an employee organization to request a factfinding panel cannot be expressly or voluntarily waived.” Comments:  My understanding is that the sponsors wanted the new subdivision…

As part of the budget compromise between the Legislature and Governor, SB 1036 was enacted on June 27, 2012.  It created the In-Home Supportive Services Employer-Employee Relations Act (IHSS-EERA) (Gov Code section 110000 et. seq.).   While I've heard that county IHSS officials knew this was coming, it caught me by surprise.  This will be the 8th labor relations statute administered by PERB.  To say that the bill creating the IHSS-EERA is confusing would be a serious understatement.  But from what I can discern, here the answers to some key questions: What Does it Do? In a nutshell, the IHSS-EERA creates a…

AB 1606 was introduced by Assemblymember Perea on February 7, 2012.  (See my prior post here.)  As introduced, AB 1606 would clarify that mediation is not a prerequisite to fact-finding under the MMBA. On May 17th, the bill was amended.  The main amendment utilizes the language in PERB's emergency regulations with respect to the deadlines for requesting fact-finding.  However, a secondary amendment adds the following sentence to Government Code section 3505.4: "(e) The procedural right of an employee organization to request a factfinding panel cannot be expressly or voluntarily waived." [Note: The comments below have been edited since this post was…

I previously wrote about the “Public Employees Bill of Rights Act” (click here) which was introduced by Assemblymember Dickinson on February 14, 2012.  The bill would have changed from three years to one year the statute of limitation to take disciplinary action against a state employee.  While I recognized that there are legitimate public policy arguments in favor of a one-year limitations period for disciplinary action against an employee, my criticism of the bill was that the one-year limitations period ran from when the conduct actually occurred and not when it was reasonably discovered by the employer.  This change therefore would…