Category: News

Purple Communications, Inc. v. Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO (NLRB Decision) (Issued on 12/11/14) Last week the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its long-awaited decision in Purple Communications, Inc. v. Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO.  In a 3-2 decision, the NLRB overturned its prior precedent in order to hold that: [E]mployee use of email for statutorily protected communications on nonworking time must presumptively be permitted by employers who have chosen to give employees access to their email systems. The NLRB majority characterized this decision as “carefully limited.”  According to the majority, this decision only applies to employees who have…

I was saddened to learn that Jerilou Cossack passed away last week.  In 1976, she was one of three individuals appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the newly created Educational Employment Relations Board, which would later be renamed the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).  So she was a member of the very first Board and the first woman appointed to PERB.  Jerilou served as a member of PERB until 1979.  From 1979 until her passing Jerilou served as an arbitrator, mediator and factfinder in labor disputes.  To say that she was a well-respected arbitrator would be an understatement.  She was a member…

Prior to July 1, 2013, every decision issued by the Board was considered precedential.  Effective July 1, 2013, the Board has the authority to designate appeals from dismissals as either precedential or non-precedential.  (See PERB Reg. 32320(d).)  In implementing this new rule, PERB decided to continue assigning non-precedential decisions a case number (e.g. PERB Decision No. 2353-E).  However, PERB said that non-precedential decisions would not be listed to its Decision Bank.  So if you wanted to read a non-precedential decision you would have to send a request to PERB. Recently, the Board implemented a new system where non-precedential decisions are available via an "Email me this…