Category: PERB Decision

Jurupa Unified School District (2012) PERB Decision No. 2283-E (Issued on 8/21/12) This case involves a fairly convoluted set of facts. Because my focus is on a single sentence in the decision, the relevant facts are simple: The employee, a teacher, was going through a biannual performance evaluation. The employee claims that her reviews became negative after she sought union assistance in responding to an initial report. On June 21, 2010, the employee filed a written complaint under the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) alleging that her evaluation was not conducted in accordance with the contract. That same day, the employee also joined with other employees in…

State of California (Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation) (2012) PERB Decision No. 2282-S (Issued on 8/21/12) This case is a good reminder of what PERB considers to be protected activity when it comes to the behavior of union representatives. The law actually applies to both union and management personnel equally, but since unions don’t have the ability to ‘discipline’ management, these situations almost always arise of the context of management wanting to discipline a union representative for his or her behavior. In this case, the behavior—as far as “bad” behavior goes—was actually pretty mild. The union representative was in a Weingarten-type…

City of Carlsbad (2012) PERB Decision No. 2276-M (Issued on 6/27/12) Simple facts.  Board agent gave union time to file amended unfair practice charge.  Before that time expired, the charge was dismissed in error.  Union appealed.  The Office of the General Counsel separately requested that the Board remand this case for further investigation based on the error.  In granting the appeal and request for remand, the Board explained that: The Board has adopted a procedure whereby the General Counsel reviews cases dismissed by Board agents. As explained in similar requests from the General Counsel (Santa Ana Education Association (O’Neil, et…

Standard School District (2012) PERB Decision No. 2273-E (Issued on 6/22/12) This case involves a challenge to the sufficiency of a sunshine notice.  Pursuant to EERA Section 3547, the school district (district) sunshined its bargaining proposals on September 14, 2010.  No public comments were received.  The district and union then began bargaining which eventually broke down in July 2011.  Also in July 2011, numerous community members filed the present unfair practice charge alleging that the sunshine notice in September 2010 was defective. The Board agent dismissed the charge as untimely and the Board affirmed.  In its decision, the Board noted…

County of Ventura (2012) PERB Decision No. 2272-M (Issued on 6/14/12) This case involves a highly convoluted set of facts.  But here are the key ones for our purposes.  The Union of American Physicians & Dentists (UAPD) filed a petition to represent physicians working at outpatient clinics operating under contract with the County of Ventura (County).  The County refused to process the petition on the ground that it was not the employer of the physicians; rather, the County asserted the physicians were employed by the clinic operators.  That spawned an unfair practice charge by UAPD which resulted in County of…