The California Supreme Court held oral arguments in the Cal Fire case this morning. Cal Fire is an “anti-spiking” pension case. The specific issue is whether the State properly eliminated the option to purchase “air-time” as part of PEPRA. Here is an initial quick summary:
Unfair Practice Charges
690 unfair practice charges (UPCs) were filed in fiscal year 2017-18. In fiscal year 2016-2017, there were 672 UPCs. This means fiscal year 2017-18 saw a 2.7% increase in UPCs compared to the prior year. The change in the number of UPCs varied by statute. The MMBA saw a 13.4% increase (from 261 to 296). The Dills Act saw a 46.7% decrease (from 60 to 32). EERA saw a 15.4% increase (from 240 to 277). HEERA saw a 9.9% decrease (from 81 to 73). The Trial Court Act saw a decrease from 15 UPCs the prior year to 9, while the Interpreter Act remained the same at 1 UPC. Finally, there were 2 UPCs filed under the new Public Employee Communications Chapter.
The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) has announced a meeting of its Advisory Committee for October 11, 2018 at 11 am. The location will be at the PERB headquarters in Sacramento at 1031 18th Street, First Floor, Room 103, Sacramento, CA. According to the meeting agenda the Advisory Committee meeting is "an opportunity for the Board, its staff, its constituents and the public to openly discuss the topics outlined below relating to PERB’s mission in the administration of the eight collective bargaining statutes over which PERB has jurisdiction." There is no formal “membership” for the Advisory Committee; all members of the public are welcome. The scheduled…
On Friday, September 28, the Governor vetoed AB 2305, 2886, and 3034. These bills would have expanded PERB's jurisdiction by adding, respectively: peace officer unions; the Orange County Transportation Authority and the San Joaquin Regional Transit District; and the supervisory units of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Here is the Governor's veto message: These bills expand the Public Employment Relations Board's jurisdiction to cover labor disputes involving several local public agencies. Over the years, the Legislature has expanded the Board's jurisdiction, but the necessary funding for the increased workload has not kept pace. This has resulted in significant backlogs at the Board…
On August 20, 2018, the Labor & Employment Law Section of the California Lawyers Association (formerly the State Bar of California) is holding a webinar on Janus. It's titled "Janus v AFSCME: How Unions and Employers are Responding to the Decision" and will be held from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. You can register by clicking here. I am honored to be one of the presenters for the webinar, along with two of the best-known lawyers in the field: Felix De La Torre, General Counsel for the Public Employment Relations Board and Kerianne Steele with Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld. A lot of interesting things…